Retribution
by Kai Saitou
Summary: Revenge is something lurking within everybody's hearts. In Ryker's, it is far deeper than most, it is almost ironic that the emotion known as love can be the cause of heartache and despair. Heartless can steal hearts, but emotions can destroy them. P:SxK
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, but I do own my OC's

A/N: Alright guys, this is my first try at writing a story with my own OC in it, I hope that when you see "OC" that you haven't made up your mind that its probably going to be a Gary Stu or self-insert, I urge you that if it looks like its going in that direction to tell me about it and what I should do to fix it. I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

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Everyone always lived in fear of the heartless raids. The number of people taken at a time varied, and it didn't matter whether the person taken was your best friend or worst enemy. Those monsters didn't know the difference; it was all the same to them. I never imagined my family would ever be marred by those monsters. I was terribly wrong………………

(Three Days Earlier)

"Ryker! It's time to get up!" A woman's voice called rather loudly."

"Come on mom, just five more minutes please!" He yelled back with an annoyed tone in his voice.

She was about to say something else before she felt a tug on her nightgown. A little girl stared up at her with puppy dog eyes.

"Mommy……Can I go wake him up?" She whispered with a soft voice and a look of mischief in her eye.

"Of course Sofi," she said as she bent down close, "get him good for me okay."

Sofi nodded her head in understanding and crept out of the kitchen and up to the base of the aged wooden stairs. She began her ascent being very careful to not hit the steps that squeaked when you stepped on them. The six years she had lived in the house gave her the advantage of knowing which ones creaked and which ones didn't. She counted to herself softly. "One…..two……big step……four…….big step…..six." When she finally reached the top of the stairs Sofi moved her head just enough to stare down the hall with her stunning blue eyes. She saw that her brother hadn't locked his door and left a small crack in it. Sofi smiled big and tiptoed over to the door and opened the door just enough to squeeze through, but not enough to let the light from the rising sun enter his room through the windows in the hall. Sofi got ready, took a deep breath, and screamed "SNEAK ATTACK!" right before she leapt in the air, her gown and blonde hair flying behind her as she flew through the air.

"Wha…!" Ryker lifted his head a split second before his sister slammed his head back down into his pillow. She jumped up and down repeatedly. Every time she came down her brothers back popped loudly. Sofi then proceeded to poke at his sides where he was extremely ticklish. "No! Please no! Don't do that!" Ryker screamed as tears ran out of his eyes. If one listened carefully enough you could hear Sarah, his mother, laughing hysterically down in the kitchen. When the onslaught finally stopped he wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at his sister and found she was pointing her finger almost menacingly at him, but also sweetly at the same time.

"Are you going to get up now brother?"

"Do I have a choice?"

His answer came when Sofi raised her arms up and spread her small fragile fingers out and squeezed them back and forth in quick succession, "No." Ryker let out a defeated sigh and finally complied with his sister's, and mothers for that matter, wishes. He jumped out of bed and landed with a heavy thud on the carpet. Ryker grabbed his covers and threw them back hoping to himself that his mother would accept his haphazard way of making his bed. His sister's voice brought him back to reality. "Brother…….would you give me a piggyback ride?"

"Do I have a choice?"

Sofi smiled with love for her brother and made her bear claws again, "no!" Ryker chuckled to himself and knelt down for her to get on. Sofi climbed on and wrapped her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. "Let's go!" She exclaimed excitedly.

Ryker took off without a moments notice and sprinted as fast as he could down the hall. Sofi squealed with delight as they got to the stairs and Ryker jumped the whole way down without touching the steps and landing with a thunderous boom on the hardwood floor.

"Ryker Severne Artaith! How many times do I have to tell you not to jump off those stairs? You are going to break a bone one of these days and I'm not going to feel the least bit sorry for you!" Sara said in an aggravated tone, even though she had a smile on her face.

_That boy is never going to learn_

Ryker mumbled a quick apology and knelt down to let his sister off his back. She whispered her thanks in his ear and went back into the kitchen to wait for the breakfast of pancakes and hot toast that Sara was cooking.

"Hey mom, where is dad anyway?" Ryker inquired when he saw that his father was nowhere in the vicinity, he usually never missed a Sunday breakfast.

"Oh, the schedule got flipped around; he ended up being on the day watch today instead of later in the week." Sarah explained to her son.

"Oh," was all he could say as tears began to well up in his eyes. The bad memories always flooded back whenever those things were mentioned. His mother quickly changed the subject. "So, how many pancakes do you want?" "Three! Three! I want three!" Sofi piped enthusiastically. Sarah laughed as she scooped Sofi up into her arms, "Okay, okay, you can have three. What about you Ryker?"

A look of pain still crossed his face. "I'm not hungry……..I'm going to go walk around the town for awhile, you can save me a couple if you want too. See ya later!" He said as he raced out the front door. Sofi jumped out of her mothers' arms and called after him, "bye brother," but the goodbye never reached his ears as he ran down the main street towards the square. His mother looked in concern but decided it was best to leave him be for the moment.

_I know better than anyone that mentioning anything about the raids in front of Ryker upsets him………but he asked, I didn't want to lie to him._

"Momma, the pancakes are burning!" Sara snapped out of her thoughts and quickly flipped them over on the other side. "Thanks Sofi." Her daughter beamed and showed her dazzling smile, it never failed to cure anyone's bad mood if they were around to see it. "Can I go look for brother after I eat?" "Of course you can."

**o-o**

Ryker continued his race down the main street, his auburn hair whipping in his face. He hated hearing anything having to do with the raids, especially when he heard his father was on watch duty. That was the most dangerous job of all. Sitting on top of those really high towers, if a raid did end up happening, they were very difficult to get off of them in time to escape. Sometimes it wasn't even the heartless that killed them, one misstep off those towers and you were done for. Ryker shuddered at the thought of falling off one of those towers and hitting the ground. He managed to shake the disturbing thought from his mind. By the time he reached the gigantic carved fountain located in the middle of the town he was drenched in sweat. He hung his head down breathing heavily trying to catch his breath. When he finally looked up, he stared in awe at the stunning sight. It really didn't matter how many times he had seen it, it always amazed him to see that kind of natural beauty. The rainbow that radiated from the fine mist coming out the top of the fountain was the highlight of the whole village.

The sun glinting off the water and the rainbow it created was absolutely majestic. Ryker sat down on the marble bench that traveled around the circumference of the fountain and basked in the cool mist, savoring it on his hot skin. Sitting like this made him recall a time when he was younger and first saw the fountain, a time where everything was normal……….

**o-Flashback-o**

Sarah and Robert strolled along almost aimlessly down the very well kept cobblestone road, it was meant to be a very leisurely walk, but their son had other things in mind. "Mom! Dad! Look at this, isn't that awesome!" Awesome seemed to be a word that Ryker used a lot lately, if anything he looked at seemed interesting, that was the one word you could expect him to say from everything to a caravan of ants traveling down the road, a strangely shaped fruit in one of the merchant stalls. Yes, awesome was a word to describe anything in the eyes of an eight year old boy. Robert looked at his wife and winked before calling out to him. "Hey Ryker," he called, "do you want to see something more awesome than anything you've ever seen before?" Ryker's eyes slowly became saucers as he turned the statement over in his mind and let the words slowly roll off his tongue, "more awesome than anything?" He gave his father an incredulous look, this had to be impossible. There was no way that there was something more awesome than _anything_, but nonetheless his curiosity was definitely piqued. "I have to see it! What is it?? Tell me! Tell me!" he cried.

"I might…..I don't know, should I Sarah?" Ryker responded by making his most innocent face and dropping down on his knees for effect, "Pleeeaassse!"

Sarah just chuckled at her son and nodded her head. Her eyes couldn't help but wander down at her cradled arms, "you two go on, I'm going to go buy some things for Sofi, so I'll catch up later." Robert nodded in agreement. A moment later his arm was jerked out of socket from Ryker grabbing him and taking off, he had no choice but to begin running with him. "See ya later hon!" Sarah smiled for a moment and waved enthusiastically before she continued on her way to the store.

**o-o**

"Come on dad! Hurry up; I want to get there as fast as possible!"

"Come on son! Slow down, you know I'm not as young as I used to be!"

With Robert's heartbeat in his ears, he almost didn't notice to jabs people were making at him, "Having fun this morning Robert!" One shopkeeper laughed. "And who says old guys can't run fast?" Another said.

"Yeah, yeah, ya'll are real funny guys!" He yelled back trying to sound irritated, but he burst out in laughter instead. Robert knew everything was in good nature, the village they lived in was very close knit, everybody knew everybody. When they finally got within sight of what he wanted to show Ryker, he planted his feet as hard as he could and made both of them come to a screeching halt, or a smash-to-the-face halt, depends on which one you're talking about. Robert managed to pick himself up off the rock road and caressed his scraped face gingerly. "Are you okay dad??" "Yeah….I think so..." He managed to grunt. "I need you to close your eyes and let me guide you okay?" Ryker pouted, but after some coaxing finally complied and closed his eyes. Robert held onto his hand and walked him the last fifty yards to the center of town looking back occasionally to make sure his eyes were closed. Ryker's next question made his father smile warmly. "Dad…….is it raining?" "Open your eyes and you'll find out."

Ryker opened his eyes and was met with a stunning sight. A rainbow seemingly coming out of nowhere hung over the fountain. He was captivated by its eye-catching beauty, he knew in his heart that in a way it was artificial, but how could a rainbow that looked so tangible be manufactured. The boy lifted up his head and closed his eyes, savoring and tasting the fine water droplets that hit his face. "Awesome," was all he could manage. It was then that it dawned on him that the water wasn't being reused at all, upon closer inspection it looked like a trench had been dug and covered with a metal grate. The water was being funneled away from the fountain. "Dad…….how does the fountain keep running? Why doesn't it run out?"

"That is a very good question; tell me, would you like to hear the history behind this fountain?" Ryker's face showed his distaste, "history? Are you kidding??" "Trust me Ryker, this is better than any history lesson you've ever been taught, this is the history of how this village came to be."

Robert started before his son could object again, "A very long time ago, this village didn't exist. Did you know that?" Ryker shook his head. "Well when people came to this area, they wanted to colonize a village, but they couldn't find a good enough place to start one. They were about to give up when they stumbled across this natural aquifer. The water was so abundant and constantly flowing out of the ground so they knew this would be the perfect place to build the village. This marble fountain was carved as a monument of how this town was formed."

"What about the rainbow? How did that happen?"

"Nobody knows, everyone thinks it happened by accident, maybe over time the marble got tiny cracks in it and started to mist because of the water pressure beneath it. Ryker nodded his head in deep thought, "Will it run forever?" "I'd like to think it would, as long as this village stands, I believe it will run forever."

"I guess that's a pretty cool story……." Ryker said slightly bored. Robert laughed and grinned big, "I knew you would be enthusiastic. Come on, let's go back and find your mother and sister, we can both give her a big hug and get her soaking wet!"

"Alright! That's what I'm talking about!" Ryker laughed and smirked at the same time. "Let's go!"

**o-o**

"Brother," Sofi whispered softly. Ryker's mind snapped out of his reverie and looked around before finally setting his eyes on his sister. "Why are you crying brother?" His sister asked very concerned. "What?" Ryker's hand flew up to eye and touched it gently before discreetly letting it run into his lips.

_Yup, definitely tears_

"Oh Sofi, I'm not crying, it is just the water that's getting me soaking wet." He explained as he shook his head back and forth making Sofi shriek, "you got me wet brother!" "What? I didn't hear you, I what," Ryder smiled menacingly as he scooped her off the ground and gave her a bear hug. "No! You're getting me wetter brother! Stop it! Stop it!"

RING!! RING!! RING!!

The sound made Ryker stop dead in his tracks, his sudden lack of movement made his sister ask what was the matter.

His heartbeat was in his throat.

The fear was almost paralyzing.

_No! Not again! Not again!_

The sounds of scurrying steps were getting closer.

The cries of fear and whimpers were filling his ears.

One thought filled his mind…………_**RUN!**_

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A/N: So what did you think? Love it, hate it, Neutral at the moment? Let me know!!


	2. Raid

A/N: Well this is probably the quickest update I've ever had in my life…….lol……..The writing bug has definitely infected me. So without further delay, here is the second chapter.

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"Brother, what is that?" Sofi pointed towards the meadow outside of town "why doesn't the flower field have colors anymore? Why is it only black? Brother? Bro…" Sofi was suddenly cut off as she was jerked up off the ground before she had time to ask what her brother was doing. Ryker's feet pounding against the cobblestone road coupled with the wind that was buffeting their bodies was deafening as he bolted back toward his house at breakneck speed. "Wheeeeee!!" Sofi exclaimed excitedly, "you've never run this fast before brother! You must be hungry for lunch right?" "Yeah, I'm really hungry, Sofi…..I want you to close your eyes, it'll be a lot more fun that way okay?" Ryker yelled above the gale. "Okay brother! Whoopee!"

"Hold on tight and no peeking!"

Ryker's race back towards his house continued at inhuman speed, a strange feeling, or rather, no feeling of heat on the back of his neck made him jerk his head strait up, staring at where the sweltering noon sun should've been. "Brother…….did a cloud cover-up the sun," Sofi asked keeping her eyes tightly shut. Ryker had no answer for her as he stared in horror at the sight above him, keeping his pace nonetheless. The Red Nocturnes were so numerous that even the light of the midday sun couldn't penetrate through them. As if on cue when Ryker noticed them, fire began raining down all around them. Were this fire not so deadly and it was done at night it probably would've been one of the most stunning sights a person would ever have seen. The balls of flame the heartless released set houses and people on fire alike. It didn't take long for the putrid aroma of burning flesh and hair to reach Ryker and Sofi's nose. "Brother! What is that smell?!" Sofi cried out as she opened her eyes. "No!! Sofi please don't look!" Ryker pleaded.

It was too late however as his sister took in the surrounding bloodbath and gawked, wide mouthed at the gruesome sight. The sight of people burning, screaming in agony before it consumed them, and the fires that glimmered in her cerulean eyes were too much for the little girl of six to handle as she grabbed hold of Ryker's shirt, slammed her eyes shut, and broke down into sobs and unintelligible murmurs.

_Hang on Sofi, We're almost there, I won't let anything bad happen to you. _Ryker prayed fervently in his mind.

An intense flash in his peripheral vision brought him out of his psyche just in time to change his bearing enough to evade out of the way. He screamed in agony as his closeness to the flame burned the right side of his face and a small section of his shoulder. Blinded by pain for a split second, Ryker felt something hit at his legs sending him flying through the air. He managed to contort his body to flip over shielding the silently sobbing Sofi from the better of the crash and taking most of the damage on his shoulders and lower back. Ryker groaned in extreme pain as he felt the rough road taking more and more flesh from him each time he skipped across the cobblestone. When he finally skidded to a stop, he managed to lift his body off the ground and sit on his knees in a stupor.

_What the hell? _He thought to himself.

A burning pain he hadn't noticed before made his eyes rivet themselves on his leg, his trance like state immediately forgotten. He stared at the long gashes evenly spaced apart traveling almost all the way around his leg…………….claw marks.

Ryker suddenly felt a presence behind him and instinctively threw an elbow as hard as he could and gritted his teeth when his strike met nothing but thin air and his shoulder hyper extended. He sprung up off the ground with Sofi still clinging to his shirt; head buried as deep as she could manage, and whirled around expecting to see something, anything. Ryker's head pivoted back and forth looking for proof that something had been behind him and it wasn't just a figment of his imagination. Crimson speckles on the road suddenly caught his eye and they seemed to make a semi circle, going around behind him.

_Damn! _Ryker thought in horror as he began to move forward, his realization as to the type of heartless came too late as something ripped into his already bloodied back. He stumbled forward, losing his grip on Sofi as she tumbled to the ground with a thud, slamming her head into the stone road and knocking her out cold. "Sofi," was all Ryker managed to scream before two more flesh splitting blows landed crisscrossing themselves the length of his back. He whirled around, tears pouring out his eyes, and threw a punch in rage as hard as he could muster at the assaulting shadow heartless. The thirteen year old was no match as the heartless lifted up its clawed hand, caught the fist, and squeezed, digging its claws into Ryker's fingers and the top of his hand. He screamed in agony at the burning pain. The heartless then proceeded to slash its free hand down, catching him on his face and hurling him strait back toward his unconscious sister.

Ryker weakly lifted his head up and tried to open his eyes, he groaned at the sensation of blood running amok in his corneas temporarily blinding him. He could barely make out the blurry form of the heartless waddling towards him. "For something that walks like a penguin, you sure are stronger than you look," Ryker spat acidly as the heartless started to climb onto his chest. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain of getting his heart forcibly taken from him. The heartless plunged its claws downward, but it was all for naught as it flew off of Ryker's body out of site. He could barely make out the figure of his father punting the heartless an extreme distance away. The next few minutes were a blur for Ryker as he drifted in and out of consciousness. He didn't remember much, seeing his sister in his father's other arm, his mothers' screams, being hurled into a cube shaped safe room barely large enough to fit his family inside. His other senses were better indicators of what was going on than anything. Glass being broken, frantic scrambling of heartless searching for them, screams of anguish and fear as the raid continued, the smell of burning flesh and housing materials, the feeling of warm blood running down his face and back, and the cracking noises from claws being dug into the wood were some of the last things he heard before the numbing sense of blood loss made him drift off into nothingness………..

**o-o**

"Ryker…..sweetie, please talk to me," a woman's voice whispered urgently.

"Wha……..huh?" Ryker groaned unintelligibly as he tried to move. "It………hurts," he managed to say. He slowly opened his eyes and surveyed where he was. The room he was currently in looked familiar but was a disaster. When the realization that it was his room finally came to him he sucked in his breath as he saw the bloody scratches all over the wall of his room. Ryker immediately went strait back to survival mode and, despite his mother trying to calm him, he began thrashing around violently.

"Ryker! It's okay! Please stop," Sarah pleaded fervently while trying her best to hold him down, "it's over, they are gone!"

But his mothers' cries never reached his ears, he was absolutely focused on one thing and that was escape. Ryker was reverting to nothing but pure instinct. Like a cornered animal, he was fighting a battle in his mind and heart, his eyes didn't seem to be normal at all, they seemed to be one uniform gray color; it was as if he was not conscious of his actions at all. A soft voice brought him out of his horrible memory, "Brother…………please stop it……..kay?"

Ryker's mind snapped to attention at the familiar voice as he was actual able to recollect what happened after he was attacked. It all rushed back to him in a sensory overload of sights, smells, sounds, and warm feelings all over his body. When he finally came out of his trance, he was able to see clearly again, his mother and sister watching him anxiously from the foot of his bed. Ryker examined himself and discovered that most of his body had various bandages wrapped around him before finally set his eyes on his mother and little sister. "Mom…..Sofi…..I'm glad your………" Ryker barely got out before he screamed in misery as the pain finally overcame him. He slammed back down into the bed totally unconscious once again. Sofi sniffled and was about to cry before Sarah grabbed her and whispered in her ear, "Sofi…….Ryker will be just fine, do you understand?"

"Yes mommy."

"Okay, we need to let him get his rest so he can feel better," Sarah said laboriously trying not to tear up herself.

"Okay," was all Sofi was able to say as she walked out of Ryker's room with her mother and went downstairs to see if Robert was home from the rescue effort that was mounted after the raid was over.

**o-o**

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**A/N: **Well, what did you think, Next chapter will be caught up time wise, So I hope that you look forward to that, Unfortunately my updates will definitely be very few and far between, college courses are taking up a lot of my time and I really don't have much time for writing anymore. So I'll work as hard as I can when the occasion arises that I have some free time on my hands. And sorry for the shortness of this chapter, I'm going to work hard to make all the rest 2500 words or more. Thank you all!


	3. First Meeting

A/N: Well, I finally got a break from College English and regular schoolwork, here is the product of my efforts, I hope you enjoy the third chapter!!

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Dismal and Distraught……….those were two words you could use together or individually to describe the current situation. With everyone mourning their lost loved ones all the while rebuilding the village, the depressing air that hung over everything was quite oppressive. It didn't help at all that Ryker was stuck at home taking care of his little sister while his parents helped with the rebuilding effort. He tediously strummed his fingers across the kitchen table while his sister sat across from him and babbled on about something with him catching every other word.

_She is lucky………I'm almost glad she lost her memory of that day. _He thought idly, wincing as he blinked his eye. Fluid constantly leached out of the wounds he sustained to his face, especially to his right eye. He was told that he might not be able to see out of it ever again; the doctor informed him he could count himself lucky that the claw hadn't actually cut into his eye and only grazed it. Unfortunately for him, heartless aren't well known for washing their claws before going for their evening meal. The infection that ravaged it was almost too much to bear; puss seemed to leak out of his eye continuously with no end in sight. (No pun intended)

"Brother! Are you even listening to me?"

"What…..huh?"

"Hmph!" Sofi sighed utterly exasperated at her brother's short attention span. She jumped off the table, stuck out her tongue, and skittered loudly away to her room. Ryker just shook his head in defeat; he couldn't really concentrate on anything for the time being. Too much had happened over the last couple days for him to really think lucidly. Every moment was spent reminiscing over how he could have done things different, how he could have been faster, stronger………better. He gently traced the long gashes on his face and legs, wincing every time he caught a rough spot in the wound itself.

_This sucks……….these scratches are killing me._ He thought with contempt, his rage beginning to boil over again for those forsaken monsters as he slammed his fist into the aged wooden table situated in front of him.

_Crack!_

The wood resounded as it splintered, sending a long fissure both lengthwise and widthwise across the table. Ryker's eyes widened at the sight.

_I am so dead…………._

**o-o**

A loud whirring from several large servers filled the room as the World Map was brought up. Everything looked normal except for the one irregularity in the map, a world that was completely surrounded by a sphere of darkness.

"You're sure this is where the largest concentration of heartless is at this point in time?"

"I am absolutely positive your majesty, without a doubt."

"Is intervention needed?"

"It is highly suggested yes."

"Well in that case, I guess everyone's going to be taking a field trip a little sooner than they thought. Send them the message immediately and give them the coordinates. They need to get there as soon as possible before that entire world is devoured."

"I understand your majesty! Although I must mention that it will take the Keybearers a day to get the message and approximately a day to get there."

The cloaked figure took off his hood, showing two big round ears, "then what are you waiting for? Send it immediately!"

"Yes sir!" The assistant said quickly before sprinting away to complete his orders.

The King stared back up at the computer screen, watching the slightly hypnotizing darkness swirling surrounding the world.

"I hope we are not too late."

**o-o**

Two days later

Ryker sat in his bed bored out of his mind, the crack in the dining room table hadn't gone over well with his parents despite the elaborate story he had come up with trying to slip his way into the clear.

_Being grounded sucks _Ryker thought as he nonchalantly let himself fall back into his soft mattress, savoring the feeling of the soft fuzzy sheets on his back even with gauze wrapped tightly around it. He sighed as content as a lion in the shade of a tree as he slowly drifted off into his sub consciousness.

**BOOM!**

Ryker jumped out of his skin as what sounded like a resounding clap of thunder shook the very foundations of his house, and for that matter the village. He flew out of his bed feeling some of the gashes on his back open again. His skin crawled at the thought of what was happening and threatened to give him nausea all over again. He looked quickly out of the hall window and saw no heartless about to beat down his front door, only what looked like some sort of flying machine flying toward the now black meadow that used to be full of vibrant and colorful flowers. Fear gripped him as his mind gave him the only possible explanation there was. His mind was distracted but for a second as his mother yelled up at him, "what was that?" He had no answer as his thoughts went back to the task at hand.

_They are coming…_

It was time for him to take matters into his own hands. Ryker leapt away from the window and reached along the wall inside his clawed bedroom door not bothering to look as he knew what he was grabbing. He clutched a wooden sword him and his father had made a couple years ago so he could practice with it. Everything in front of him seemed to be a blur as he raced with mind boggling speed towards the stairs again not even bothering to touch any of the steps as he flew down them landing with a bang.

He rolled out of it, jaw clenched, his mind roiling in pain; he berated himself for forgetting about the stitches still holding all his injuries together. The warm feeling of blood washed over him as he continued his sprint out of the house in nothing but a long pair of cotton pajama pants.

"Ryker! How many times do I have to…" Was all Sarah was able to shout before her full exclamation fell on deaf ears. When she came to investigate her eyes widened in awe struck silence before she slumped to the ground sliding down the wall before a piercing scream rang through the house.

Ryker moved at a pace most humans couldn't maintain for extended periods of time, peoples eyes that were once riveted on the meadow where the ship had landed did a double take as their eyes widened in shock at the shirtless boy running with a wooden sword in his hand while his back spewed out a sticky crimson liquid with every step. Some almost lost their balance gaping at the sight while standing on the nearly bare roofs, hammers and nails in hand. Before any of them had time to object he was already too far away to ask what in the blazes he was doing. Fear began to grip the villagers as the possibilities finally came to light and moans and prayers once again began to fill the air.

Explosions of black ash scattered out in all directions as Ryker hit the once beautiful meadow as he crushed the blackened remnants of the wildflowers he was trampling. Every sense tingled and seemed superhuman, every one getting stronger the closer he got to the strange flying device. What he saw standing in front of it disturbed him so greatly he doubled his speed.

"Sofi! Get away from there!" Ryker roared as loud as he could at his flower basket toting sister.

"Broth…." Her reply was cut short as Ryker finally reached her and scooped her up in one fluid movement , he quickly pivoted on his heel and started to sprint the other direction, but a loud whooshing noise made him stop in his tracks a whirl around almost tripping and falling face first into the blackened flowerbed. He stared intently and could faintly see three figures taller than himself standing at the top of a ramp obscured by smoke. Ryker slowly set his sister down and whispered for her get back to the village, his eyes glowed with such intensity that his sister didn't even bother to object. She started back in a semi-urgent way neither walking nor running. Ryker took his fighting stance as the three figures slowly made their way down the ramp hands held up in front of them. He took this as a threat and rushed his opponents bellowing fiercely as he swung into the smoke knocking one of them on the head.

"Ow!!" The figure groaned as he clutched his head and went flying off the ramp to the left throwing up a mushroom cloud of ash around him. One of the other two reached for him but Ryker was too quick and hurled himself into the fog the same way he had hit the previous enemy. He stood up and prepared to strike a killing blow to what he thought was an incapacitated heartless. As his weapon screamed through the air at the black thing that laid in front of him he saw was a flash of light and most of his sword flying end over end behind him, leaving him nothing but a worthless piece of hilt. Ryker fell back defeated with a look of pure hatred in his eyes. "Kill me you bastards, feast on my flesh and heart and leave my village alone." Ryker seethed staring at the figure that was now standing over him, a weird weapon in the shape of a key slung over his shoulder. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain to come and go. When he peaked again the smoke had finally cleared and he saw something very surprising. A brunette boy with dazzling blue eyes and some crazy spiked hair was offering him his hand. "Sorry kid, I guess we should have explained ourselves a little better, but you really didn't give us the chance you know."

Ryker stared in utter confusion as the words slipped off his lips, "Heartless?"

The boy just shook his head and motioned for his other two friends to join him.

"Here, let me help you up." The boy said in a soft tone.

Ryker was apprehensive at first but finally gave in and grasped his hand using him to stand on his feet. The boy kept his hold and introduced himself, "Hi, names Sora, and this is Riku", Sora said motioning to a boy with shiny silver hair and what seemed to be a permanent scowl on his face. He then motioned to a girl slightly shorter than Sora and Riku with a short pink zip up skirt, alluring red hair, a sweet disposition, and a beautiful face.

Ryker stared dumbfounded for a moment before his fatigue and blood loss finally caught up with him. He wobbled for a moment before hurtling toward the ground once again. He felt hands catch him and hold him up before a glass bottle was held up to his lips, here Kairi said, her eyes full of concern, drink this. She tipped the bottle and let the bitter jade fluid into his parched mouth; Ryker sputtered a couple times, but managed to get two good swallows down.

He felt instantly rejuvenated as if all that running had done nothing to his lungs and muscles. Ryker stood up strait but doubled over himself wincing in pain at the throbbing wounds on his back. He heard one word from Kairi, "Curaga", and he suddenly felt himself basking in an ethereal emerald light. His back itched fiercely as he tried to figure out what she was doing to him. When the light subsided he threw his fingers back behind him and scratched himself urgently. It took him a moment to realize what she had done, his hand slowly moved from his back to his face. He traced in vain for the rough line that had magically disappeared from his once scarred his face. Ryker stared in wonder and gratitude at Kairi tears beginning to well up in his eyes, but a voice behind them all distracted him from his emotions.

"Brother?" She began apprehensively, "Who are these weird people?"

"Sofi!" Ryker said with glee, "Come and meet these people! They are amazing!"

Sora grinned sheepishly throwing his hands behind his head while Riku kept the same stoic expression on his face. Kairi just giggled to her self. Ryker addressed Sofi first and then pointed out everyone as he said their names, "This is Sora, this is Riku, and this is Kairi." Sofi stared in wonder at the newcomers intently before stating, "Nice to meet you! I'm Sofi!"

"Nice to meet you Sofi," Riku half said and half grunted with what could be barely registered as a smile on his face.

"Ah, so he does speak," Ryker keenly observed, talking like he had known the trio for all his life, "I was beginning to wonder…"

"Hmph"

The group shared a hearty laugh at Ryker's joke. "So…urm…umm….I don't believe you have relinquished your name yet kid." Sora said staring at Ryker.

Sofi cut in, "Brother! What relinquet?"

"It means to give up Sofi" Ryker said before turning to face the group again, "My name is Ryker Severne Artaith."


	4. Second Meetings Are Always The Hardest

A/N: I should definitely be doing college English since I'm like three weeks behind. But I don't feel like it………..good thing I have a story to fall back on or I might go insane. So without further ado, here is the 4th chapter.

* * *

The cool breeze was about the only semi-pleasant feeling that was felt on the stroll back to the village. It caressed everyone's faces with its evanescent fingers, but the miniature explosions that occurred every time they took a step on the jet black field caused a melancholy mood to sweep over everyone except for Sofi, whose eyes still darted back and forth in the hope of finding a flower that wasn't a single color. Ryker knew the question would come eventually from one of the trio, but he hoped they would wait until Sofi was not in the vicinity. They walked in silence for a long while not realizing that they were changing color rather quickly. Sora was the first to notice everyone else around, he tried to stifle his hysterical snickers but he was unable and was quickly doubled over himself pointing and crying at the same time.

Kairi meeped when she looked around and noticed everyone's chameleon act, Riku just shrugged his shoulders and gave his usual short unenthusiastic "hn," followed by his characteristic sarcasm, "Guess that's what we get for walking through a black field, I almost half expected us to turn white through some crazy cosmic event that only happens once every million years."

"Ha, ha, ha, you're a riot, did you know that?" Sora rolled his eyes as his laughing fit was immediately subdued.

Ryker raised his eyebrows but said nothing as he looked toward the now closer village and saw small plumes of black smoke diffusing in every direction. He squinted for a moment and spoke without thinking, "Mom?"

The trio's eyes immediately riveted on the woman that was almost upon them, the streaks of white on her face showed her distress from where the tears had etched anguish upon her face. Sarah yelled savagely as she came upon them, Kairi and Riku jumped out of the way leaving Sora to face her wrath. "Is that a spatul…..."

THWACK!

"OW! There is a misunderstanding miss, please let me expla…."

SMACK!

Sora groaned in agony again and the spatula plastered him with horizontal lines. He raised his arms in defense as another blow was flying towards him.

"Mommy! Why are you hitting Sora like that! Stop it! Stop it!" Sofi cried out as she ran towards her mother.

"Sofi! Oh my little girl!" Sarah exclaimed as she immediately forgot her murderous assault with her cooking utensil and scooped her up in a fluid motion throwing ash all around them. She clung to her tightly as though she could disappear like an ethereal ghost. "Mommy……" Sofi whispered quietly, "these people are my new friends."

"New friends?" Sarah choked, her voice threatening to crack; she raised her eyes up at the ebony colored people her little girl was calling "friends."

"Who are you?" Sarah asked almost instinctively and with a tinge of fear in her voice.

"Maybe this will clear things up a little bit," Sora replied as he raised his hand up and motioned Kairi and Riku to move closer to him.

"Aeroga!"

Wind immediately whipped up in spiraling circles all around the trio and threw every last bit of the excess carbon stuck to their clothes and bare skin up into the air to float away like dust. Ryker, Sofi, and Sarah stared in wonderment at what was taking place before their very eyes. Their once black exterior flew off and revealed some weird looking clothes that were made of a material that neither one of the family had seen before. Sora once again began to make formal introductions, "I'm Sora, this is Kairi, and the grumpy one over there is….ow!" Sora exclaimed before finishing his sentence, "Riku." "Pleasure to meet you Ms." Kairi said questioningly.

"Sarah Artaith," was all she said.

Sora broke the silence and randomly commanded, "All of you, come on in and get yourselves cleaned off; this wind won't hurt you."

Sarah stared cautiously and refused to move, she still wasn't quite sure about the strange visitors in front of her. Ryker was the first to break the awkward silence between them, "Mom, if you're still not sure, this should clear up any doubt you might have about them. Look at my face and back…notice anything?"

For the first time since she had arrived Sarah took a minute to survey her still carbon laden son, she scanned up and down like a machine, searching for the tell-tale signs of his injuries. Eyebrows furrowed she switched Sofi over to one hand and reached out with her free right hand and slid her hand diagonally across his back leaving streak marks where the gashes once were. The trio stood in the middle of the spell silent, waiting to see how things would pan out.

The words escaped her lips, "how?"

"Magic mom, it was some sort of magic."

A small scoff escaped her lips as she assumed that all-knowing motherly tone, "magic….hahahahaha" Sarah laughed heartily at this statement before Ryker's comment threw her back down to earth.

"Ummm…..mom, how do you explain….that?" His gaze and pointer finger directed at the still swirling wind surrounding Sora, Kairi, and Riku.

"……."

"If you are still not convinced………then I'll prove it to you!" Ryker spun on his heel and headed directly for the spiraling column of wind.

"No! Ryker don't!"

He slammed his eyes shut and leapt forward, he hit the wall with what sounded like a dull thud, it was a foreign feeling to him, at first he was repelled, but was soon totally enveloped and before he had a chance open his eyes he was in a sitting position right next to Sora, Kairi, and Riku, totally devoid of any foreign particle on his cotton pajama pants and bare back.

"Welcome to the club Ryker!" Sora smiled half serious and half joking.

Kairi bent down on her knee's and whispered quietly, "thank you for trusting us, I think it will help your mother to accept us now."

Ryker nodded his head in agreement and looked towards his mother and sister, "can you please come in here so we can go home now?"

"…"

Riku had had enough and spoke suddenly and sharply, a tone of annoyance in the inflection of his voice, "look, how about this, Sora disengages the spell, you get close to us and then he casts it again? Then we can all go along our merry way and we can explain why we are in this world in the first place."

"Riku!" Sora and Kairi yelled simultaneously.

Sarah was taken aback, but quickly recovered, "fine."

Sora gave Riku a slight death look before shrugging his shoulders, after all, his directness had worked for once in his life. He breathed out slowly and stopped the flow of magic killing the spell immediately. Sarah wasted no time in covering the distance between them Sofi in tow and before everyone knew it she was standing next to them. Sora wasted no time in casting the spell again, just in case she changed her mind.

"Aeroga!"

The wind immediately enveloped everyone again. Both Sarah and Sofi yelped in surprise as they were cleaned just like everyone else. It really was a strange feeling inside, almost like weightlessness. Sarah took a step in the limited space and felt extremely light-footed even with Sofi's added weight but said nothing.

They walked in silence for the longest time, the only sound heard was the wind whipping around them and the thousands of burnt flowers that were getting ripped apart and thrown out of the way due to the spell. Ryker looked over his shoulder while plodding along beside everyone and noticed the bare ground that they were leaving behind them in the wake of the wind. When the trio finally made it to the cobblestone main street they looked around at the strange sight. Not a soul was seen on the roofs or on the ground. The village had gone from being lively to ghost town in nothing flat.

"Uhhh….guys," Sora motioned towards Sarah and her children, "is there something you want to tell us?" Sarah broke the uneasy silence, "We all thought the heartless had returned…when that contraption you came in on went over the village. I would imagine…" Sarah's explanation was interrupted by her daughter, "Mommy…what's heartless?"  
Sarah's eyes widened in horror at what she had just said out loud and off-hand without thinking about her inquisitive daughter clinging to her neck, "Oh nothing sweetie, why don't you have Ryker take you to the fountain, I know you love the fountain."

Sarah shot her son a look and he nodded in quick understanding, "come on sis, I'll give you a piggyback ride there."

"Yay!" Sofi exclaimed as she immediately jumped down and leapt upon Ryker's now healed back. He sprinted away much like he had done when he was trying to escape the heartless but this time he wanted to protect his sister from the horrible realities of his village's personal hell.

After Ryker was finally out of sight his mother continued to give her explanation of the heartless raids, when they started, and her description of the latest one that had occurred. The trio nodded their heads in understanding as her story finally drew to a close and she asked the question they had been prepared for since they had arrived. "Why are you here?"

"Well you see…the thing is…" Kairi started.

"We are here to destroy the heartless so your village can be at peace." Riku wasted no time in saying their intent but was slightly irked when Sarah laughed eerily.

"Destroy them? Impossible! They can't be killed; do you not think that we have tried to fight back? Do you know how many loved ones we have lost and yet we haven't killed a single one? Don't try to give us false hope; the only thing that will come of you three facing those monsters is death."

It was Riku's turn to laugh which left Sarah quite ruffled, "Well it's your lucky day Ms. Artaith, we just happen to have weapons that will destroy them." Riku shifted his eyes back and forth to his companions and when they all nodded in agreement held out their hands. In a giant flash of light three keys appeared in the trios hands. Riku flipped his end over end repeatedly waiting for Sarah to stop gaping and actually say something.

"Keys???" Sarah asked confused.

"Keyblades to be precise, it is the only weapon that can defeat the heartless," Kairi said softly before an ear-splitting yell from Sarah made her jump, "WATCH OUT!"

"Reflega!" Sora yelled just in time as a violently thrown pitchfork narrowly missed putting a couple holes in Kairi's head. Everyone stood at ready trying to determine where it was thrown from, it wasn't a very long before the Keybearer's realized they were surrounded by twenty people or more all holding farming implements in a threatening way. The throng of people were shouting curses and threatening to kill them if they didn't get out of the village but Sarah's voice managed to break through the din, "Everybody stop!! These people are not our enemies! They have come to liberate us of the heartless so our village can once again be at peace!"

"Yeah," a pretentious voice stuck out in the crowd, "how exactly would you know that? For all we know you could be plotting against us with them," he pointed his finger menacingly at Sora, Kairi, and Riku.

"I know because they are kind, they healed my son of his injuries he sustained from the last raid and they possess weapons that can destroy the heartless!"

Riku's eyebrow rose for a split second before he relaxed again.

_I'm surprised she took everything we told her at face value……_

"Well if that's the case how about they give us a little demonstration?" The same pompous voice rang out from the mob. Everyone else shouted their agreement and pushed a woman forward causing her to stumble. Her right arm hung loosely at her side and she cringed in extreme pain when she tried to put weight on it to pull herself off the cold ground. Kairi immediately dismissed her keyblade and rushed forward and helped the woman to her feet, "What is your name?" The woman sucked air for a few seconds before she answered, "Millie," she struggled. "Okay Millie, this might feel a little strange, but don't be afraid, I'll have your arm fixed in no time.

Kairi closed her eyes and concentrated the flow of magic before releasing it, "Curaga."

Millie gasped for a moment and desperately clawed at her shoulder trying to get rid of the horrible itching sensation that was assaulting her. She was so busy scratching that she didn't notice her shoulder contorting and moving back into a normal position. When the spell finally ended, Millie, without thinking, put her right arm strait out in front of her. Her surprise, and the surprise of the villagers that surrounded them for that matter, was apparent as everyone fell deathly silent. Apparently not believing what was happening Millie swung her arm in a big arc cringing and expecting the same excruciating pain she had been living with ever since the raid.

Nothing was felt, not even the slightest hint of pain. She broke down in sobs and hugged Kairi tightly babbling her thanks to the amazing red-haired girl. Sora smiled brightly at the villagers faces because they seemed to be slightly eased and not so high-strung. Riku rolled his eyes with his same stoic face.

_Why is it like this everywhere we go? When I see that damn mouse again I'm going to ask for a better job!_

Sarah laughed for the first time in a long time and was at that moment actually happy, she was on cloud nine and everything in the world just seemed right somehow. Movement caught her eye and she looked to see Ryker carrying a very sleepy little sister in his arms down the main street road. The villagers surrounded the trio of Keybearers and one by one started apologizing for their rudeness and introducing themselves. The village had made three of the most important friends they would ever have in its existence.


	5. A Day In The Life Of The Keybearers

A/N: The holidays hold such a special place in my heart *sniffle* I actually have time to work on fanfiction instead of homework ^_^ So without further procrastination……here is the fifth chapter!!

* * *

"Come on Sora, You lazy bum!" Kairi practically screamed in Sora's ear, making him fall out of the carefully constructed nest of blankets he had constructed the night before. The back of his head made a small thump as it slammed against the cold, and needless to say, hard wooden floor. Sora groaned as he slowly lifted his bare upper body off the floor. It took him a few painstaking seconds for his blurred vision to finally adjust and for him to figure out what had happened.

"Do you really feel the need to do that?" Sora asked with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. Kairi attempted to maintain what could barely even be called an angry face for as long as possible before a warm smile graced her lips. She knelt down and wrapped her arms around Sora warmly, "sometimes," she cooed as she snuggled closer to him. Sora returned her affections ardently, holding her close to him before a cough at the door of the Artaith's guest room made Sora's cheeks a profound cherry hue. A certain silver haired friend of his had a smirk on his face and a strangely nice disposition about him while he looked on, only a coupe strides away from the love struck couple.

Riku laughed to himself, "that damn mouse screwed both of you over, did you know that? A month before your wedding and he sends you on this mission, what a riot." Riku laughed heartily at his joke and awaited their response. Sora was the first to break the uneasy silence between himself and Kairi.

"You really shouldn't talk that way about the King, Riku, you know as well as I do that the responsibilities we have as the Keybearers come first, as long as the worlds are in danger from the heartless…..all of us are obligated to protect them."

Riku did not like this answer because his once kind face turned into an angry scowl as Sora finished, the words bit at him like a viper until he couldn't take it anymore.

"Was the Gummi Ship comfortable Riku?" Kairi asked, desperately trying, and failing to change the subject.

Riku didn't even bother acknowledging her question as he started on his tangent, "Even at the cost of your personal lives!? I am the only one in this room that should keep any kind of obligation to the worlds. Do you ever wonder why I have never found anyone after all these years and have rebuffed every attempt for anyone either than you two to get close to me?! Falling in love is a luxury that I cannot afford, unfortunately you two don't share that ideal. You two are in love and want to get married, yet you want to traipse around the damn worlds and risk your lives in doing so! It is foolish on both of your parts, keyblade or no keyblade!"

With that final exclamation Riku stomped loudly down the hall, went down the stairs and out the front door leaving Sora and Kairi at a complete loss for words.

Kairi spoke first, "do you think he is right?"

"I don't know Kairi……"

Sora motioned for Kairi to let him up off the ground, she complied and allowed him to stand up, but immediately grabbed on to him again. The tears that ran down her face betrayed the happy-go-lucky attitude she was trying to keep, the turmoil that Riku's words caused inside of her was too much to take. They stood there for what seemed like an eternity before Ryker's voice brought Sora and Kairi both out of their sub consciousness.

"Is now a bad time?" He asked cautiously "I heard Riku yelling…" Ryker trailed off, not sure what to say next.

"No," Kairi recovered, wiping the tears from her face, "it no big deal, we just got into a little argument, what do you need?"

Ryker hesitated before speaking, he could practically feel Sora's and Kairi's gazes burning holes into him, "Sora could yo………" Ryker's voice caught in his throat.

"It is okay Ryker," Sora reassured him, "go ahead and ask."

Ryker spit it out in a long string of words spoken very quickly and without pause, "I was wondering if you could train me, you know, teach me how to fight?"

"I think you did pretty well when we first met," Sora joked, attempting to calm Ryker's nerves. He pointed at the place on his head where the residual knot still occupied a tiny space on the side of his head.

"I need to be stronger…..better." Ryker looked deep in painful thought, he tried to dispel the horrible feeling of uselessness that he had felt when the heartless had attacked him, but it was a memory that came back relentlessly no matter how much he wanted to forget it.

Sora was about to decline again before Kairi indiscernibly elbowed him in the ribs, motioning with her eyes for him to say yes.

Sora's eyebrows creased as he wondered why she was so insistent, but it was then that the memory of the broken and bloody Ryker he met only days ago flooded his head.

_Of course, I understand now_

"Sure, go grab your weapon and meet me at the field we met, I will clear out a sparring area when I get there."

It was Ryker's turn to act confused, "um, there is one problem with that plan Sora, you kinda broke my wooden sword remember?"

Sora and Kairi both chuckled at his directness, "I guess I did didn't I, tell you what, I'll make you a brand new one when I get there."

"Okay!" Ryker leapt up in the air with excitement and hurried out of the room to go get some more suitable clothes on for training.

When Ryker was well out of earshot Kairi looked at him knowingly. "You're going to make him an actual weapon aren't you?"

Sora smiled mischievously, "How did you guess?"

"I just did," Kairi answered back before giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'm going to go back to Millie's house, before I went to bed last night she made me promise I'd spend the day with her."

"Well, well, looks like you're her new best friend." Sora observed.

"Yeah…I guess so. See you later!"

"Bye Kairi!"

Kairi turned around before she was out of sight, "Love you…"

"I love you too Kairi."

With their love pronounced to each other Kairi left the house. Sora wasted no time in getting the drive uniform provided by the crazy color rabid fairies. After he was dressed he headed downstairs. The door handle was inches from his fingertips when Robert spoke from behind him in a gruff voice. "Hey Sora, before you go…I have a little advice for you…" Sora's hairs stood up on the back of his neck as his breathing got shallower and almost raspy.

_Crap! What did I do? Sora thought to himself._

"Don't ever wake me up in the morning by arguing with your friend........ever, is that clear?"

Sora gulped before barely spitting out "yes sir."

"Good" was all Robert said as he made his way back to his bedroom.

_Yikes! Definitely not a morning person…._

Sora pushed the scary voice echoing in his head away and once again reached for the door handle, and again, stopped short when an aggravated growl originated from the kitchen, "where is my spatula?!!" He thought about ignoring the offhand comment and going about his business, but he, after all, was partially responsible for the lost cooking utensil. Sora traced his fingers across his face where the lines used to be.

"Don't worry Ms. Artaith! I'll find it and bring it back!" Sora shouted as he walked out the door.

Sarah could be heard laughing from across the village.

**o-o**

Riku was totally immersed in his own thoughts as he walked up the cobblestone main street. He couldn't help but think about what he had said to Kairi and Sora practically minutes ago.

_Damn this sucks! Being Keybearers stresses all of us out so bad…I know the onslaught of heartless is not going to end anytime soon, and Sora and Kairi will never be truly happy until all of this is over!_

Riku impulsively summoned his keyblade and threw it out in front of him, angling it upwards and controlling it, making it swing in a big arc much like a boomerang. When it finally came back to him he prepared to throw it again, the silver haired boy never even had time to be aware of anything around him before he heard the words "sneak attack" yelled at full volume behind him. A flurry of blonde hair whipping in the wind was the last thing Riku saw before he was pile drived into the ground.

"Mr. Riku!" Sofi exclaimed delightedly from her position on Riku's back. The injured turned his head painstakingly slow, his eyes eventually met a grinning Sofi, totally oblivious to Riku's now splitting headache. She sported a simple yellow shirt, a pair of beige shorts, and a pair of sandals that matched both her top and bottom apparel. Riku's eyes twitched in great annoyance at the little girl pinning him to the ground, were it not for her gleaming look of pure innocence Riku might have been able to manage an evil look, but all he could muster was a half-scowl half-smile.

The shock to his head finally caught up with him as he groaned in pain and managed to greet Sofi, "Hi Sofi……that really hurt you know," he chastised.

Sofi got a thoughtful look on her face as she looked at her victim's face. Something was different, she was sure of it. Her face quickly turned to a look of concern, "something is wrong Mr. Riku!" Sofi shouted as she laid her hand on the forehead of the still prostrate Riku.

"I'll get you fixed up." She whispered in his ear. "You'll be good as new by the end of today." Sofi stated matter-of-factly as she jumped up from her sitting position.

Riku dragged himself up off the ground and began to reply, "What…" He had no time to finish his sentence before Sofi grabbed his hand and jerked his arm out of socket and began to drag him up Main Street towards the fountain. Riku could here people laughing at him as the bubbly little girl forced him up the road with her.

"I hope you don't fight like you handle little girls!" One shop owner yelled.

Riku just continued running, one thought totally enveloping his mind.

_This little girl is pure evil!!_

**o-o**

Kairi and Millie found plenty to talk about as they made their way around the village. They had visited several shops and bought a couple of items that made Kairi feel nostalgic, the smell of perfume took Kairi back to the time in the Destiny Islands when life wasn't so complicated and life threatening. As they browed though yet another shop she found herself thinking more and more about those simpler times. That sense of normalcy had changed so rapidly the fateful night the islands were demolished and her heart was taken away from her.

"Hey Kairi, do you want to take a break?"

Kairi was suddenly forced to snap out of her reverie, "huh?"

"Do you want to take a break?"

"Oh," Kairi recovered, "sure, no problem."

On their way out of the doors, both Kairi and Millie noticed that something was slightly amiss. A large group of people of at least fifteen people were hanging around outside the store. Both girls walked out side by side and stood right outside, wondering why these people were staring at her. Millie and Kairi both raised their eyebrows questioningly, but said nothing to the villagers. The silence hung in the air like the relentless humidity that plagued the village during the summertime, both parties refused to be the first to speak. After a few more painstaking seconds a small fragile voice spoke from within the center of the villagers, "can you help me miss?" A certain level of suffering could be detected in the voice of the hidden person.

_That voice must be directed at me. Kairi thought._

She furrowed her eyebrows when her eyes still failed to actually see the source of the voice. Kairi glanced at Millie and noticed she had a concerned look on her face. Her curiosity piqued, she took a step forward. The people blocking her view immediately moved aside and revealed a horrifying sight. A boy stared at the red haired girl from in-between the very limited degree of vision he possessed through all the gauze wrapped around his face. Kairi allowed her eyes to wander to the rest of his body and it was just the same as his face, everything was covered on his body. The burns were so severe any kind of movement was excruciating, even the simple act of talking was physically taxing. Tears filled Kairi's eyes as she realized what the stretcher ridden boy desired.

She wasted no time in pulling a small glass bottle of elixir out of one of her pockets and began to give Millie explicit instructions, "once I heal him you must force me to drink this…..do you understand?"

Millie nodded almost imperceptibly; she understood that using magic was very physically and mentally taxing on her.

Kairi knelt down by the maimed boy and closed her eyes in concentration. She barely noticed all of the townspeople backing up in fear. They created as much space in-between themselves and the sorceress, as they called her. The crowds' murmurings were immediately quelled as a refulgent green light began emanating from the palms of her hands. A shiver went up everyone's spine as the air began to cool in the immediate area surrounding Kairi.

For a curaga spell of the magnitude she was attempting, Kairi couldn't just rely on the strength within herself; she had to manipulate the other energies, particularly the ones in nature, to sate the spells enormous appetite.

Millie was the only one not totally surprised about the sudden temperature change. When Kairi had healed her shoulder, she remembered that she breathed out the moment the spell was cast. The steam from her breath was clearly visible to herself. This time was essentially the same, but with a more drastic effect over a larger area.

Suddenly, one all too familiar word snapped Millie out of her memories.

"Curaga!"

A boom was heard as the energy went from Kairi's palms to totally envelop the boy in an emerald green light. The boy squirmed as the spell was taking place, he shook so violently that he rolled out of the makeshift stretcher he was on and onto the cold ground. When the terrible itching feeling subsided the boy stood up and ripped the bandages off of his face and looked into the bright thing that was the world, albeit it was still pretty cold. His breath created little clouds of vapor with every exhale from his smiling face.

Kairi smiled as warmly as she could before her vision started to turn black and white. It felt like she was falling but she really couldn't tell. She could faintly hear Millie call her name but it seemed like it was very far away. Before Kairi slipped into unconsciousness she tasted a bitter liquid in her mouth and her eyes immediately shot open. She gripped the arms that were holding her up from behind and blinked a couple times, trying to figure out if she accomplished her goal.

A familiar voice called out to her, but it wasn't the one behind her that was holding her up. Kairi used her arm to block out the sun and saw a familiar little girl holding hands tightly with Riku.

Riku whispered something in Sofi's ear and she let go of him. He made his way over to Kairi and knelt down beside her. The silver haired boy stared at her for a moment before flicking her forehead, "of all the stupid things you have pulled…..this by far is the stupidest." Riku stated in his know-it-all tone. "You should have waited for either Sora or me so we could have lent you our power. You're lucky that didn't kill you."

Kairi laughed weakly at Riku, she knew he was concerned; Riku just had a funny way of showing it sometimes.

Millie asked if she was able to stand and she nodded her head. When she finally found her bearing and regained her equilibrium, she stared at the bandage clad boy, examining what he could through the gaps in his bandages. A woman from the group of people standing well back came forward to Kairi and stared at her for a moment before giving her a warm embrace. She whispered her thanks in her ear several times before leaving to go see what Kairi assumed was her son.

Kairi felt a chilly hand on her forehead suddenly and she focused her eyes down the length of the arm.

"Riku……what are you doing?"

"You have a fever. Sofi keeps talking about taking me to a fountain; you're coming with me so you can cool down." Riku commanded rather than asked.

Kairi sighed defeated and began walking, Riku and Sofi in front of her, and Millie right beside her, leaving behind a grateful group of people behind them giving them nothing short of a standing ovation.

**o-o**

When Sora finally reached the ashen covered field he saw Ryker standing in the middle of it. He was stamping his foot rather impatiently, which was very uncharacteristic for Ryker.

_He must really be anticipating this. Sora thought._

Upon seeing Sora, Ryker waved very enthusiastically and picked up a large branch sitting on the ground next to him.

Sora walked up to him and looked at him questioningly. "What are you doing with that?"

"You needed raw material right? Or can you make stuff out of thin air?" Ryker asked almost seriously.

"I was thinking of making something a bit harder than wood."

Ryker raised his eyebrows skeptically, "the only thing harder than around here would be meta……" Ryker's voice caught as he his skeptical look turned to an incredulous one.

"You don't mean……"

Sora didn't give him time to further think of the possibilities as he summoned his keyblade and shouted "magnet!"

He hurled it strait up in the air and allowed the spell to hang high in the air. Sora saw a flash of metal flying strait towards his keyblade and leapt high in the air to retrieve it.

"YES!" Sora shouted triumphantly.

Ryker raised his eyebrow, "what is that?"

"Your mom's spatula!" Sora yelled as he held it up like a trophy in the air, the spatula still wobbled back and forth as the spell still willed it into the air.

Ryker suddenly busted out laughing as he realized the joke Sora was playing on him, "that's good, I never expected you to be a joker, but I was sure wrong!" He said as he wiped tears from his eyes.

The seriousness of Sora's next statement stopped Ryker's laughing fit immediately.

"Now I can actually cast the spell I intended." Sora said offhandedly as he hurled the spatula back to the entrance of the village.

Ryker watched entranced as Sora's attention turned to the keyblade floating above them. With a flick of his wrist, Sora drove the tip down into the ground a good couple feet.

"MAGNEGA!"

Sora smiled and Ryker gasped as the ground started to rumble and even contort beneath their feet. Large amounts of material were burrowing upwards towards the embedded keyblade. Sora cleared the distance between his weapon and himself and grasped the hilt of the keyblade. With a jerk he brought up his keyblade and an extremely large hunk of something shiny.

"So tell me, what kind of weapon would you like to have?"

Ryker was amazed; he never expected anything like this, "are you serious?"

"Dead serious," Sora replied.

"Give me a second to think," Ryker said as he sat down and began to contemplate what he wanted.

Sora's voice made Ryker jump and threw him out of his thoughts, "what are you strengths?"

"Huh?"

"What are your strengths?"

"Well, I'm fast I suppose, and fairly strong as well." Ryker said as he looked at his arms, cocking his head back and forth as he stared at his biceps.

"I think I might have an idea of something that will suit your fighting style, let's see if you would like something like this."

Sora held his keyblade up in the air with his right hand and concentrated another spell in his left.

"Firaga!"

The flames were so intense that Ryker had to cover his eyes. He thought for a moment his clothes were about to combust because he could've sworn they were smoking. When the onslaught of fire finished Ryker examined the huge glob of melted metal still floating in the air. He stared in wonder and contemplated how Sora was going to make something out of _that._

Sora continued his work and carefully brought the white hot metal down from above his head, his brow sweated as he concentrated deeply on his work. He dropped the power of the magnega spell a little and allowed the metal to droop slightly. He began to drag it along the ground and at the same time weakened the spell so it made a long and fairly wide curved bar.

"Aeroga!" Sora yelled as a blast of cool air emitted from his palm cooled the metal still hanging from his keyblade. He collapsed about as hard as the now hard metal to the ground when he stopped the flow of magic to his keyblade, killing the magnega spell immediately.

The would-be blacksmith ripped his weapon from the excess metal and began working on the quickly hardening bead he had laid out on the ground. With unerring precision he began carving out a blade shape with the tip of his keyblade. It was a long blade about a foot in length, with a long, narrow piece of stubby metal to attach to a hilt. Once he was completed he started the twin that would compliment the other one. With a quick blast of air from his palm he hardened the metal enough to where it wasn't so liquid, but still red hot. With a quick gravega spell he pummeled the length of metal one time, making the blades release from the rest of the bar.

Before Sora began working on the blanks he stopped momentarily to take a quick swig of elixir. The bitter taste was terrible, but the energy boost was a necessity for Sora to continue his work. A weak magnet spell allowed him to pick up one of the blade blanks up into the air. Ryker continued to watch, enthralled with Sora's work.  
Sora concentrated on keeping the blade shape up in the air while he prepared two gravity spells, one in each hand to pummel the blank in opposite directions.

The clang was quite deafening as Sora brought his hands together almost as if he was praying. Upon examining the weapons he saw that curved part of the blade tapered together perfectly, leaving an instant edge. With one last blast of air from his palm he examined the finished blade, and, upon passing his inspection, set it down and began to work on the next one. A few minutes later, Sora was finally finished. He walked off without a word; leaving Ryker to stare in awe at the shiny new blades sitting on the ground very close to him. He was tempted to touch them, but opted out of that idea because he still felt the residual heat coming off of the metal. When Sora finally returned he was carrying two cylindrical shaped objects in his hands about five inches in length.

"What is that?" Ryker asked curiously.

"Wooden hilts," was all Sora said before beginning to work again.

Sora began to imbue the wood with a sort of selective magnetic property that Mickey had taught him how to do. When asked where Mickey had learned it, all he had told Sora was his former master Yen Sid had taught him how to do it.

When Sora was done enchanting the wood he held them both out to the blades sitting on the ground. They wobbled for a moment and then shot toward Sora with blinding speed. Ryker started to yell at Sora to look out, but by the time the words started to flow from his mouth, the long narrow part of the blade was deeply forced into the center of the wood. Sora stood up and swung the now completed knives experimentally, making sure the spell would hold. When he was satisfied he held them out to Ryker who took them eagerly. He swung them around, examining the weight and feel of the weapons. Without warning he took off towards the forest, and, upon reaching the trees, jumped and slashed upward at a low hanging branch. The razor sharp edge had no trouble in slicing the branch off the tree. It fell to the ground with a thud along with Ryker. He turned around and looked at Sora with a big grin on his face.

"I think these will do just fine."

* * *

A/N: Wow………..this is by far the longest chapter I've ever written ever. I hope everyone enjoyed it, and special thanks to The Key Of Hope for helping me and giving me advice on what kind of weapons Ryker could have and how to describe how Sora used magic to forge them. I really appreciate it!!


	6. Combat 101

A/N: Well guys, the long wait is over, My couple of lines a night didn't work out quite as well as I'd hoped, be that as it may, it still worked! So who's complaining? So without further procrastination here is the sixth chapter!

* * *

Ryker twirled his wrists in a circular motion, cutting the air in front of him with his newly made weapons. He loved the way they felt in his hands. The balance was spot on; exuberance was quite the understatement when it came to his emotions. Ryker was beyond happiness. The blades gave him a sense of power that he had never once felt in his life. Sora grinned big at the enthusiasm written on his face as they began their trek back toward the village, but his facial expression went cold-blooded as soon as Ryker's eyes could not perceive his movements.

"Hey Ryker…"

Ryker began to answer but was soon cut off from the guttural gag emanated from his body as the end of Sora's keyblade slammed into his chest. Air rushed by at an incredible rate as Ryker flew through the air in the opposite direction, crimson blood dripping from his mouth. A look of anger flickered in his eyes as he struggled to his feet, still holding his radiant metal weapons in a death grip.

"What the hell…" Ryker began before getting a puzzled look on his face. He threw his head back and forth, looking for any kind of visual cue that would clue him in on where Sora had gone.

A chilling voice froze him in place as it commanded him in a very matter-of-fact tone.

"Defend yourself…"

Ryker quickly flung his body around to face his attacker but it was no use, Sora's keyblade cut his legs out from under him. As he was plummeting to the ground a swift sidekick connected with his ribs and once again took to the air like a flightless bird trying in vain to defy its fate to stay firmly planted on the ground. The injured gradually lifted his head to see his bloody, beaten self in the cold unfeeling steel of his weapons. He felt tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes, but he promptly blinked them back.

_Get a hold of yourself! You asked him for this! Ryker berated himself mentally._

His resolve set, Ryker outstretched his arms and grasped his blades that were deeply embedded in the ground. The sharp tips penetrated the earth even more as he used them as a crutch to pull himself to his feet.

Sora flipped his keyblade in the air, silently looking on as Ryker gathered himself into a fighting stance.

"Are you ready for this?" Sora asked, albeit he already knew what his opponents answer would be.

"Are you?" Ryker sneered confidently, his anger bubbling over at the pain Sora had already caused him.

Sora smirked at Ryker's snide remark but only a moment before his face once again turned stoic. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Sora decided to make his move in the pseudo chess game they were playing. He charged at his adversary, his keyblade held unerringly steady, aimed at his heart. Ryker immediately went on the defensive and sidestepped slightly and lightly tapped the end of Sora's weapon. He knocked it off course just enough to narrowly splitting his side open. Ryker swung the blade in his right hand in a downward arc, trying to catch Sora on his exposed shoulder as he flew past him with blinding speed.

_Got you!_

The thought had barely left his mind when Sora disappeared in a whoosh of wind.

_Not this again! Ryker thought as he scanned the area._

He closed his eyes and let his other four senses take over his perception of the world. Without visual cues his other senses seemed to work at a superhuman rate, the adrenaline rush was almost like a drug for Ryker. The only other times he had felt it were when the heartless had attacked the village and him.

His ear twitched as a dead plant snapped behind him. Ryker eyes shot open as he smiled and spun around, throwing one of his blades above his in defense and slashing the other horizontally out in the space in front of him.

Ryker gaped at what he had just done. He had expected the clang of metal on metal, but that sound was never to reach his ears as the sound of blade cutting into soft flesh filled his senses. The surprised boy stared at Sora, feet firmly planted on the ground, and his arms and keyblade hanging loose beside himself. Words caught in Ryker's throat as he began to apologize profusely for the long gash his blades had left right below his pectoral muscles.

Sora listened to the almost incoherent babbling for but a moment before he grasped Ryker's head, picked him up, and drove his body into the ground. The thud was immediately followed by the expelling of all the air Ryker had in his body.

Black and white were the only colors the temporarily color blind wounded could see as he desperately gasped for air. A colorless butterfly caught his attention as he stared up into the air dazed and confused. It fluttered back and forth seemingly aimless looking in vain for a lively vibrant flower that would nourish its failing body with nectar. Disoriented as he was, Ryker looked on, intrigued with the insect's plight. It was then that he remembered that Sora had just thrown him down.

_That's strange……….where did he go? Ryker thought to himself as he picked his body up off the ground._

Ryker looked around him and attempted to find the only living thing he had seen ever since he had lost his ability to see color. When he finally caught the movement of the butterfly against the same color background he was met with a very curious sight. The one butterfly he had seen was desperately trying to keep three others from falling into the darkness of the demolished sea of flowers that allured them into the peacefulness of death. Ryker watched, subdued, at the almost tragic sight that was folding out in front of him. One by one the butterflies gave up even though the lone individual kept on what seemed like pleading and begging the others to not surrender to the darkness. When all but one had fallen and been covered over with black ash, there was still one, still fluttering, still searching, still holding onto that last glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, he could find them in the abyss.

"Hey Ryker! Wake up!"

Ryker shook his head and blinked, trying to regain his vision. He slammed his eyes shut immediately as the sun found his dilated eyes.

Sora looked on concerned, but also solemnly as Ryker tried to regain his vision.

"Never hesitate to kill Ryker…I let you cut me to see what you would do. Hesitation is not allowed in a life or death fight. This is the most important lesson I can teach you. Heartless work on the basest of instincts, they are devoid of any human emotion. If I was a heartless, you would be dead right now."

A gust of wind whipped through the field and threw up a massive amount of jet black ash. Ryker breathed out slowly and began to stare at his blades through cracked eyelids. He still clutched tightly in his hands, which were now a pale white color.

He couldn't help but remember the three butterflies that fell into the darkness and gave up as the black substance swirled around his body.

The broken, beat, and scarred teenager's eyes shot open and leered at Sora menacingly. The words echoed over and over in his head.

_Never hesitate to kill…_

_Never hesitate to kill…_

_Basest of instincts…_

_Devoid of any human emotion…_

_If I was a heartless………you would be dead…_

"NO!" Ryker screamed as he leapt to his feet. "I won't die!"

Sora barely had time to avoid his throat being sliced open as a wildly swung blow missed him by inches. When he finally landed, Sora stared wordlessly at Ryker as the ash continued to churn like the ocean waves all around them. Ryker's chest heaved up and down from the new strains that he was experiencing from his first time in actual combat.

In a flash of light, Sora dismissed his keyblade.

"Enough for today, I'm pretty sure you learned your lesson. Although you got a little close to giving me a new place to breathe out of" Sora said as he slid his black, grimy fingers gingerly across his neck.

Ryker attempted a reply, but was breathing too hard to even attempt it. His whole body was bent over as he attempted to breathe deep breaths without sucking in too much black residue from the air, albeit every now and again he had to purge a large amount of black saliva from his mouth.

"Can…….you" Ryker waved his hands in the air frantically, trying to get his message across.

Sora didn't need any other hints.

"AEROGA!"

The wind emanated from Sora and blasted out in all directions, creating a giant explosion of wind. Ryker covered his face as the wind buffeted, and then absorbed him. He lay on the now bare dirt ground, cleansed of every foreign particle and also dried of his sweat soaked skin and hair, yet another positive bonus to magic.

When the wind finally calmed down Sora couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

"Seems like I've had to do that once before have I?"

"Yeah, no kidding" Ryker half laughed, half gasped.

"Lets go cool off at the fountain…." Ryker suggested.

"Sounds great!" Sora said with glee.

"Oh and Sora?"

"What's up?" Sora inquired.

"You might wanna have Kairi take a look at that cut…"

Sora's eyes widened in absolute dismay at the thought as he muttered to himself, "crap…maybe I should've just let you kill me…"

**o-o**

The four friends basked in the cooling embrace of the fountain. Water droplets slowly gathered in number on their hot, dry skin. Sofi giggled at the tickling effect the water had when it scurried down her arm with the quickness of a mouse, but with the gracefulness of a bird soaring with the updrafts in the sky.

Even Riku, the normally serious one, couldn't help but smile at the sereneness of it all. A deep sigh of contentment escaped his lips as he slowly let his body fall into a lying position on the circular bench, letting the contour of his body follow it. He cracked his eyelid ever so slightly to check on Kairi. Millie was sitting beside her, arms wrapped around her shoulders just in case she fainted again.

Satisfied, Riku closed his eyes and drifted into unconsciousness. Sofi watched with rapt attention as Riku's breathing slowed down and his chest began to move in a steady rhythm. The little girl was tempted to wake him up but a weak smile and a finger to her lips from Kairi made her think twice about disturbing the sound asleep Riku.

Sofi bent down and whispered something inaudibly to Riku's sleeping form before sliding back over to Millie and Kairi.

"Are you feeling better now Kairi?" Sofi asked softly.

"A little" Kairi said as she began to pull out yet another bottle of the bitter emerald green liquid. She downed it in little time at all, but no matter how fast she seemed to drink it her entire face crinkled because of the terrible aftertaste it left in her mouth.

Noticing her plight Sofi thoughtfully cupped her hands in the circular basin running the circumference of the fountain and brought up as much water as her dainty hands would allow.

"Here Kairi" Sofi whispered as she offered her hands towards Kairi's still creased visage.

The red head warmly accepted and slurped all the water she could, making sure she swished it around to get every last remnant of the acrid substance off of her taste buds. She sighed in relief and smiled both inwardly and outwardly at the altruistic little girl. Millie couldn't help herself either even though she knew about Sofi's kind nature.

Kairi ruffled the little girl's hair as she signaled Millie to let her stand on her own.

"Thank you Sofi" Kairi whispered lively. She felt tons better.

Kairi looked at the little girl questioningly when she didn't receive a response. She examined the little girl's perplexed countenance and turned her eyes to what held her stare. The red head looked at the two figures that were moving slowly towards them.

All three girls spoke at once, though they all said different things.

"Sora" Kairi queried.

"Brother!" Sofi yelled with glee.

"A spatula?" Millie raised her eyebrow at the utensil held in Sora's hand.

The trio of girls looked at each other and began to laugh hysterically, the only thing that betrayed the tears running down their laughing faces was the water that was already pouring down their faces.

Riku groaned at the loud noises stemming from the girls.

"Typical" Riku sighed to himself as the group kept their laughing fit up. He raised his soaked body upright and began to rub his temples. He was deeply chagrined at the fact that the girls didn't even notice they had woken him up, or that they had angered the monster of a headache that he was trying to coax back into its deep dark hole.

As he became more aware of his surroundings (and managed to plug his ears) he noticed how oblivious the cackling hyenas really were.

_Uh-oh, Sora is in trouble when she notices. Riku though evilly._

He felt just a bit better knowing the hammer was about to be brought down on his best friend and by his fiancé no less. A quick glance past his hands, whose fingers were still deeply embedded into his ear canals made him quietly snicker as Kairi could finally see the damaged Sora. Her smile arrested in an instant as her face turned blank, then flabbergasted, although tiny cracks of anger were beginning to show on her face.

Somehow, the world was a better place as Kairi's exasperated complaint ran through the air and entered the now digits free ears of Riku. He sighed heavily as his best friend was berated about how he should be more careful. The occasional stressing of the word 'idiot' pleased him greatly. A rare smile graced his countenance at the normalcy of it all.

Sora was making excuses.  
Kairi was being overprotective.

And he just got to sit back and listen to the show.

Riku sighed again and closed his eyes. Life was good.

_Reminds me of the good ole days…_

"Riku!"

The silver haired teenager snapped out of his reverie and searched for the source of the voice. Just as he began to turn around someone grabbed his shoulders from behind and jerked them back.

He flailed his arms in an attempt to arrest his fall into the deep basin, but it was all for naught as his head slammed into the clear liquid with a smack followed by the rest of his body. Riku came up sputtering, trying to clear out the water that was causing an unbearable burning sensation inside of his nose. His expression turned venomous once he blinked the water out of his eyes. He whipped his head back and forth, taking it all in. The first thing he noticed was that Sora and Kairi were no longer arguing, their faces twitched like hyper kids looking for that last bit of sugar that would send them flying off the wall. Millie's face was buried in her hands and Ryker was obscuring his face in the emotionless steel of his weapons.

Sofi was nowhere to be found.

His expression still screaming murder, Riku snorted his disapproval and got to his feet, preparing to go brood in the Gummi Ship for the rest of his miserable life. As he started to trudge away an unfamiliar weight bore down on his shoulders and refused to go away.

The whisper of a little girl sent shivers up his spine.

"I told you I would get you fixed up today Mr. Riku…."

_If emotionless is normal. I guess you got what you wanted. Riku thought to himself._

"Yeah, fixed up alright…" Riku sighed defeated. "I'm back to the normal me."

"YAY!" A certain little girl exclaimed electrically, still clinging to his shoulders.

"Give me a piggyback ride home Riku!"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No!"

Riku traipsed away defeated.

Sora, Kairi, Ryker, and Millie were beside themselves.

**o-o**

The retelling of Sofi's ambush on Riku, Ryker's new blades, and the returning of the long lost spatula was the main course in terms of conversation that went along with Sarah's delicious dish of spaghetti she had prepared earlier in the day. Oddly enough, the cause of most of the hustle and bustle was absent for all of the festivities.

"You should have seen him!" Sora's voice cut through the din of Ryker's family.

"Sofi snuck all the way around the fountain and dunked him in the water!" Sora laughed heartily at his joke along with the rest of the Artaith family plus Millie. She had been invited as well to have dinner. Te little girl grinned at the mention of her name and laughed giddily with everyone else.

It was then that Roberts's voice commanded the attention at the still cracked dining room table.

"How about you show us those weapons I keep hearing about Ryker."

"Sure dad, no problem."

Ryker brought them out from under his feet and held them up for everyone to see.

Sarah gasped as she exclaimed to her son.

"Don't hurt yourself!"

Ryker just sighed and uttered his distaste in one word.

"Mom…….."

"Don't worry Sarah, he'll be fine. You forget that I taught him how to fight with a wooden sword. Next time any heartless come around they'll be no match for him!" Robert bragged to the group.

"You're telling me….." Sora said quietly to himself as he discreetly and tentatively stroked his still cut chest.

"That's what you get" Kairi whispered sweetly in his ear right before she turned back and shared a quiet giggle with Millie.

Sora sighed in defeat.

After dinner was finally done and over with the exhausted friends decided to turn in. Sofi was carried up to her room by Ryker, and Millie decided sleep in the guest room where Sora and Kairi's current abode was.

**o-o**

Ryker laid in his bed, contemplating what he had seen when Sora had knocked him out. He couldn't figure out what it meant and it annoyed him greatly.

"_Three butterflies fell……one was left…..what does it mean!" _

**o-o**

Sora and Kairi laid next to each other, enjoying the warmth and closeness they were rarely able to share. The only other sound in the room was Millie's steady breathing. Without warning Kairi's hand moved up to Sora's chest, causing him to flinch involuntarily.  
"What are you…?"

Sora said no more as Kairi uttered the word 'curaga' and closed up the wound on his bare chest. Contented, she smiled and drifted off to sleep, leaving a surprised Sora in the wake of her loving action.

"I love you too Kairi."

Right before dozing off to sleep Sora's thoughts couldn't help but drift to Riku. He assumed that he had dropped Sofi off and went to the Gummi Ship to eat and go to bed. Sora thought no more of it as he went to dreamland, but his assumptions about Riku couldn't have been more wrong…

* * *

A/N: Haha, a little cliffie there, gotta love them. : P, anyways, I hoped everyone enjoyed this chapter, because from here on out it is going to be a lot more serious.

I also have another announcement to make. A good friend of mine is going to draw a picture of the gang from this story and I will post the deviant art link as soon as she is finished with it. I extend my thanks to her for doing this for me!


	7. Enemy

Chapter 7

AN: It's so good to be back guys! I won't bother wasting words in an authors note, I've procrastinated getting this chapter written enough. So without further adieu…..I present to you the fruits of my labor!

* * *

Riku ran at a breakneck speed along the grassy plain country beyond the now barely visible dim lights of the village. The hair on the back of his neck stood erect, searching for the slightest hint of danger in the pitch black abyss that lay in front of him.

_The heartless have concealed themselves well…_

Riku gritted his teeth, grinding them back and forth in anger, scoffing at himself in disgust at how late he noticed their strength growing into a formidable power. Somewhere in this desolate area away from any semblance of civilization, they were gathering at an alarming rate.

_This might too much for even us to handle… Riku thought gravely._

Despite his concerns he pressed on, getting closer to his destination with every step. The moisture laden air only made Riku sweat even more profusely in the muggy summer night. As the silver haired boy continued to run a strange sound made him slide to a stop, throwing grass and soil into the darkness in front of him. Riku's ears twitched back and forth, listening for the now silent area around him.

_It didn't sound like a heartless moving around…….it sounded more like……a footstep….but who in the hell…._

"Looking for me?" A rather sinister voice sneered from behind him.

It took only but a moment for Riku to be turned around, the tip of his keyblade resting on what felt like the intruders throat. His eyes widened as he realized that the only features that were visible were a full set of glinting white teeth and a pair of glowing yellow eyes.

"What…..are you?!" Riku demanded after he ascertained the strange being took no defensive action.

The figure laughed heartily before speaking. "What am I?" "You definitely are a direct one. What an interesting human you are, especially considering that weapon that _**was**_ resting on my throat." Riku's enemy chuckled behind him in a feminine voice. His eyes shot sideways as far as his sockets would allow. Moving his head was not an option as he feared that it would be perceived as a threat, and he _really_ wasn't feeling the whole decapitation thing that particular night.

_Damn it's fast!_

"You really shouldn't think of me that way," the dark figure pouted, "after all…I was human once…"

Riku turned slowly, eyes wide with surprise as he once again stared into a smile of shiny white teeth that resembled daggers.

"You can read my thoughts? Riku inquired, his eyebrow cocked up more out of curiosity than fear.

"Hahaha! Nope, just intuition, although I must say the title "it" gets old…"

Riku took his chances and jumped back several feet, creating a little personal space for himself before dismissing his keyblade and querying the strange girl again. "I suppose that your subtle way of telling me you have a name?"

"Ahh" the girl sighed contentedly, "that brings back fond memories of my former human life….heh…at least what little I remember of it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Riku asked, very interested in what the "creature" had to say.

The mysterious human form grinned and began to walk towards Riku. "Perhaps it would be better to show you…"

"Stay back" Riku stated simply, holding his Way to Dawn keyblade that appeared in a flash of light..

"Oh" the girl stated in a high pitched flirty tone, "you still don't trust me? I guess that means I have to _**force**_ you doesn't it?"

Riku spun around, his mind screaming curses the whole way around, as the heartless girl appeared behind him. He was, however, too late as she grasped his throat and picked him up off the ground with her left hand.

"The name is Leah Tress" she said as Riku gasped and gagged, struggling to free himself from the death grip that was currently wrapped around his neck. He didn't know what he didn't like most, the feeling of insects crawling all over his neck, or the fact that his world was getting darker and darker each second that hand was on him.

"It's very nice to meet you," she continued as she grabbed the almost unconscious Riku's right hand and shook it before dropping him to the ground.

Riku's bloodshot eyes shot open as he began coughing and sucking in the moist night air. He rubbed his neck vigorously with his sweaty palm, trying in vain to get the feeling of skittering insects off of his bare skin. Stumbling to his feet he shot a glare at the smirking girl standing a short distance away from him.

"I didn't catch your name mister," Leah spoke, her words dripping out of her mouth as delectable as honey, before sinking to a sinister monotone, "…unless I have to choke your name out of you…"

Wasting no time Riku told the heartless girl his name, trying his best to keep an even tone and hide his nervousness.

The now giddy Leah appeared before him in a flash of speed and reached for his hand warmly. The nervous Riku complied without any argument, but grimaced uncontrollably as he got the maddening sensation of insects skittering over his hand.

Sensing his discomfort she let go of his hand, but continued to stare at him with her vibrant golden eyes.

"You're a lot cuter up close" Leah stated simply, not addressing the boy inches in front of her face, but speaking her thoughts aloud.

Tiny rivulets of sweat began to form on Riku's face. They ran together, becoming larger and larger before running down his face and dripping off in what seemed to be a slowed moment in time. She was close….way to close for his comfort.

_What the hell does she want?_

Riku's thoughts were distracted as the strange heartless girls lips parted, showing her bright white teeth. The thin strands of saliva stretching from her lips were very visible as she began to move ever closer to Riku's own.

"Get away from…" Riku started to say before he was smothered in the blink of an eye. He began to pull away, disgusted and appalled at what she was doing. Riku stopped himself forcibly as he realized this was a golden opportunity for him to launch a counter attack. Her tongue flicked his, seemingly begging to join the proverbial dance it was performing. Riku grabbed Leah's shoulders, much to his chagrin, and deepened the kiss, complying with what she wanted. A moan of pleasure escaped from her vocal cords, a moment of pleasure that quickly turned sour.

The blast of darkness that emitted from Riku's palms knocked Leah fifty yards in the opposite direction, rolling and tumbling the entire way.

Leah's head shot up, but surprisingly, her visage showed no signs of anger, just a half smile, half smirk as she scanned around in the darkness for her newfound friend.

"That was very nice you know" Leah sing-songed. "You're lucky I think you're hot or I would've killed you a long time ago," she giggled out. "I really didn't expect you to be part of the dark realm, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. That kinda turns me on to be honest…"

Riku listened in rage to his crazy new "girlfriend" just beyond the hill he managed to get to in the short time he had bought himself by stunning Leah.

_This is bad…she is too fast…I'm screwed if she finds me…_

A chilling voice sent shivers up his spine, making him tense in shock.

"A munny for your thoughts" Leah smirked, her black visage showing glee at the entertainment Riku was providing her.

"I think I'll let you live….you'll be even more interesting when I see how you handle my subordinates.

"What do you mean?" Riku inquired cautiously, his legs threatening to release the hairline trigger they were on.  
Leah laughed into the damp night air as she began to walk away.

"When I destroy the village of course," she laughed with mirth in her voice, "my army really has quite the appetite for human hearts."

"No! You can't!" Riku yelled, hurling his keyblade at the barely visible outline lingering in the pitch black space laying in front of him.

He once again struggled for air as Leah picked him up by his throat.

"Men never learn do they? Guess I'll have to teach you a lesson…"

Leah wasted no time in slamming her prey into the hard sun-baked ground, throwing soil in every direction.

The sound of Riku's lungs expelling all of his air at once filled his ears as he lay on the ground, arms and legs sprawled out over a wide area. In a daze Riku attempted to get up, but an unfamiliar weight kept him glued to the miniature crater Leah had created, courtesy of his body.

His vision blurring back and forth he could just barely make out the figure of Leah straddling his body. Leah spoke in a unnerving tone as she again leaned to within inches of Riku's face.

"Are you ready to learn your lesson hmm?" The insane girl smiled maniacally as she continued, "No one attacks me _**twice**_ and gets away with it."

With her final statement spoken Leah plunged her pointer fingers into the soft flesh of Riku's shoulders.

He managed to keep from crying out as he grimaced and clenched his jaw shut, determined to not give Leah the satisfaction.

"Hahahaha! You're a tough one! But I wonder what happens when I wiggle my fingers like this!"

Leah's razor sharp fingernails began nicking and severing the muscles and other tissues in Riku's shoulders. Succumbing to the pain he cried out in agony. Compounding the problem he was no longer able to keep himself still, his thrashing only increased his pain by tenfold. Tears rolled down his contorted face as the torment continued for what seemed like an eternity.

Pulling her fingers from the wounds Leah licked her fingers slowly, savoring the taste of Riku's fresh blood.

"You really are an amazing boy; most humans would've passed out. I commend you on that fact," Leah said matter-of-factly. Staring daggers was all Riku could manage as his chest heaved up and down sporadically.

"Haha! Still that defiant look! I think I'm growing to like you more and more…" she practically yelled as if she had an audience observing her.

Riku's breathing barely allowed him to reply.

"Go…….to………hell…."

"Hell?" The heartless girl asked inquisitively before bending down close to his ear. "I already am," she whispered, kissing his cheek as she brought herself back to a standing position.

"I'll be seeing you in two days. Make sure you're ready for me. A date is a date after all. See ya!" Leah opened a portal into the dark realm and prepared to step through.

"….wait" Riku managed to say, stopping Leah from disappearing.

"Yes?"

Riku's own portal of darkness opened beneath him. He began sinking slowly into it before he gave Leah a pained smirk.

"You forgot your going away present," Riku said as he flicked his finger towards himself, motioning Leah to him.

"Awww!" Leah said excitedly. "What is" she began before the Way to Dawn slammed into the back of her head and drove it into the ground.

Riku painfully caught it and quickly sank the rest of the way into his escape route. The last words that entered his ears made him almost gleeful.

"You bastard! I always get the last blow in! I'll kill you! Slowly! Next time I see you!!!"

* * *

Riku lay in the strange realm for what seemed like ages. The wounds in his shoulders burned and shot pain throughout his entire body. Every so often enough blood would pool in the wounds and spill over like an overfilled glass. The warm sensation running down his upper body coupled with the swirling, discolored dark realm made the anvils that rested on his eyelids only that much heavier as he began to lose consciousness.

_No…can't sleep….have…to…wake….up… _Riku thought in his trance like state.

He struggled to lift the weight of his right arm and keyblade combined. Concentrating, he loosened his grip on the hilt, allowing it to swing down in a wide arc. With it now pointed strait down, and with not a moment to spare, Riku finally succumbed to the overwhelming order to sleep. That order however, was quickly vetoed as the sharp tip penetrated his already wounded shoulder on his right hand side almost all the way through his body. Involuntarily Riku practically jumped awake, his back arching upward with his mouth gaping wide open. He attempted to scream in pain, but not a sound was emitted from his broken and beaten body.

Carefully and painstakingly pulling his own weapon from his shoulder he was very alert, courtesy of the new surge of adrenaline coursing through his body. Gritting his teeth he extended the lesser of his injured arms and opened an oval portal inches from his body, concentrating on what he desired his destination to be. Tendrils of darkness came and relieved him of his keyblade, ruby red blood still sticking to it.

Riku chuckled with contempt as his keyblade vanished along with the tendrils he had summoned to take from him.

_At least I can say one shoulder was hurt by my own hand instead of a psychotic heartless girl…_

Riku shifted his weight forward and began his fall through the portal, his body slowly, but surely, making its way through. What he was met with on the other side when his head appeared was damn near the most disturbing thing he had seen that night.

Sora and Kairi were locked in a passionate kiss. Sora was without his shirt, Kairi was in the same state, Millie was nowhere to be found, and worst of all…..Riku wasn't blind or deaf, or both.

"What the hell!" Riku half screamed half whispered, his voice coming out raspy as he dropped to the floor with a clunk, threatening to alert the rest of the household to his presence.

Sora and Kairi practically hit the ceiling at the surprise interruption that disturbed their alone time.

Kairi scrambled to find a shirt to cover herself up; Sora began sputtering out some jumbled mess of a very crappy excuse, and Riku just stared, dumbstruck and sickened by the horror movie that had just been played out right in front of him.

Riku wasn't sure whether it was the image of Kairi's exposed chest burned into his cornea or the extreme loss of blood making him want to faint, perhaps it was a little of both. Nonetheless, his face slammed into the floor and he knew nothing after that. His last thought was more of a prayer than anything else.

_Please let me have amnesia…_

Over their initial shock the now fully clothed Sora and Kairi gathered their wits enough to notice their damaged friend lying on the floor, seemingly peaceful, all except for the pool of his own blood he was laying in. Kairi needed no other cue as she immediately cast a cura spell over Riku. She held off giving him an elixir to revive him as she asked Sora a very important question.

"Do you think he saw us?"

"Nah, he couldn't have…" Sora lied like his life depended on it, the image of Riku's eyes about to leap out of his head and jump into a vat of acid still fresh on his mind.

"…that's a relief," Kairi sighed slightly eased, although she still had her doubts about the validity of Sora's reassuring answer.

Moving to the next important question burning in her mind Kairi spoke aloud.

"What do you think did this to him?" She said, continuing the healing process.

"I don't know Kairi," Sora stared shaking his head, "It had to have been tough to injure Riku like this…"

"Yeah…" Kairi nodded her head in agreement. "Should we wake him up?"

"No, let him rest, he can tell in the morning."

"Okay" Kairi agreed, finishing up her work. Sora grabbed a pillow and put it under his slumbering friends head, making him as comfortable as possible before climbing back into bed. Kairi was close behind Sora, snuggling up close to him, exhausted from having to use healing magic for the second time in that particular twenty four hours. His voice brought her out of her semi-sleepy state as he whispered in her ear.

"Riku is knocked out…you think we could…" Sora began before Kairi sweetly cut him off.

"Goodnight Sora."

His idea crushed like fruit between two boulders, he silently complied and drifted back into nothingness with his fiancé. His last thought was anything but amiable.

_Damn you Riku…

* * *

_

A/N: Yay! Finally done, hope everyone enjoyed it, I'm not sure whether something really major will happen in the next chapter, but we will see. I would like to thank Misaki34 for these drawings.

.com/art/Sofi-2-112983681?submitted=1

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Grim/Kai's Cousin: These are just two of the links. Stop being lazy bastards and go through her gallery to see them all. Thank you and have a Grimtastic day.


	8. Realization

A/N: Here's the eighth chapter, hope everyone enjoys it. Let me know what ya think.

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*Update* Prompted by my good friend and reviewer The Key of Hope, he told me that Riku was OOC in this chapter. I explained to him this behavior is because this is the second time he has given himself to darkness. At the end of Kingdom Hearts 2 he was down on himself about the first time, the only difference here is Sora doesn't attempt to cheer him up by making strange faces XD. Hope that clears that up for anyone else that wonders!

* * *

Riku squinted his eyes uncomfortably as a maddening heat continually radiated through a window that had no curtains. It bombarded his eyes without any sign of rest.

_Greaaat……A window that faces east and it doesn't even have curtains. Idiots…_

Riku decided to focus on the more important matter at hand. He began slowly and painfully stretching his arms and legs trying to coax his stiff muscles into following his commands. His body felt like it had been hit by a train, followed by another one close behind it. Even though Kairi's treatment had repaired all the damaged muscles and ligaments inside his shoulders, he still couldn't shake the feeling of ten ton anvils bearing down on his entire body. Riku eyes opened just enough to see where the two holes in his shoulders should've been, but thanks to Kairi's magic, those were gone as well.

"One less scar" Riku laughed his voice raspy from his dry throat. "Like that will make a difference…"

His sarcasm was well placed, compared to the hundreds of scars that riddled his body; one more wouldn't really matter at all. The sore boy painstakingly opened his eyes eye's a tiny sliver, letting the light flood into his dilated pupils. The wrinkles on Riku's face showed the extreme discomfort as he began to adjust his eyesight. Once the brightness went away Riku was met with the entire Artaith family and his two friends staring down at him with concerned, or rather, in Riku's professional negative opinion, dumb looks on their faces. The boy's squint quickly, and rather maliciously, turned into a scowl as he opened his eyes fully and stared back. The intentness of his stare didn't have the desired effect. Everybody continued to look at him, completely unphased by his cold and harsh gaze. A tiny whimper emanated from behind Ryker, making Riku's intent look more curious. He barely had time to register a certain blond haired blue eyed girl throwing herself upon him. Small tears were already beginning to form in the corners of her grief stricken face. The droopiness of her eyes was testament to her devotion to Riku. She had been woken earlier that morning, sensing something was amiss, and watched over him continually.

"Mr. Riku" was all the little girl could manage as the floodgates opened and she began to bawl uncontrollably. She wrapped him up in an ardent bear hug. Tears ran down Riku's neck making him shudder as the unfamiliar liquid sent electricity down his spine. He patted her back, unsure of how exactly he was supposed to make her feel better. His half-hearted attempt however, was good enough as Sofi made her way off the bed, lip quivering the entire way.

Riku gave a rare smile to Sofi as he turned to the others boring holes into him.

"I suppose you are all waiting for an explanation?"

No answer was heard.

"Okay then….I'll take that as a yes." Riku sighed, defeated.

The bedridden boy took a deep breath and began, "I was attacked…that's it."

The entire group minus Sofi and Sarah almost fell flat on their faces with a mixture of disappointment and extreme aggravation.

Kairi began to berate him.

Sora was taking several deep breaths, preparing to protest his disapproval loud and obnoxiously.

Robert didn't say much, but his stare screamed murder.

Ryker was almost the same as his father, but his teeth were grinding almost indiscernibly back and forth.

Luckily for Riku, the art of staring daggers came in quite handy as the uprising was immediately quelled. He motioned his eyes downward, silently addressing Sofi's presence without her knowing. Sarah took the minuscule hint and mumbled to Sofi, telling her to follow her down to the kitchen to make breakfast for everybody, and especially for Riku. The little girls cerulean orbs lit up brilliantly at the delightful thought as she happily walked with her mother hand in hand downstairs. Once she was out of earshot of everyone else eagerly waiting to hear the full story.

"Mind explaining yourself Riku?" Robert asked suddenly. "What is so serious that you can't say it in front of my daughter?"

Riku stared passed all of them, the terrible memory and pain resurfacing in his mind. "It's a long story…" Riku began haltingly.

Kairi, sensing his abashed countenance, asked him a simple question, trying to make it easier for him to start.

"Where exactly were you last night? Kairi said quietly, "because I think it's safe to assume you weren't in the Gummi Ship…"

Riku replied, eerily monotone, "you would be correct in that deduction Kairi, I wasn't at the Gummi Ship last night…" He paused before continuing. "I noticed something very wrong last night while I was walking back to the ship."

"What was it?" Ryker and Sora asked simultaneously, earning them both a stare at each other before their focus was immediately snapped back to Riku's voice.

"The power of darkness, or in simpler terms, a very strong power caused by heartless. I am one of the few people that can sense it since I'm part of their realm…"

This fact was explained more for Roberts and Ryker's sake as Riku's friends were well aware of his ability to sense and track darkness.

Ryker was taken aback by this new information as he leapt away from his place at the foot of the bed.

"You mean you are part of those god-forsaken monsters!?"

Robert gave his son a potent look, wordlessly commanding him to calm down. He had expected there were things that the trio wouldn't disclose to them unless it was absolutely necessary. His son calmed down, but only enough to where he wasn't about to start screaming at Riku in a fit of rage.

Riku continued where he left off, answering Ryker's question first.

"In a sense I am, but that doesn't make me one of them…"

His vocal cords threatened to tighten up as he spoke, but he managed to keep going.

"I'm not proud of the fact that I gave my heart to darkness for the second time in my life…but it was necessary to combat the heartless more effectively…."  
Riku's knuckles were now visibly white, he was clutching the sheet on the bed tightly. His fingernails were beginning to dig into his palms he was squeezing so hard. Kairi was there immediately whispering to him, trying to calm his breathing down. Both Sora and Kairi were bewildered. This was the most Riku had ever admitted personally-wise, emotionally withdrawn as he tried to be. He had never _ever_ confided with anyone but them.

"For the second time?" Ryker began, his tone a bit softer after seeing Kairi have to comfort Riku.

Robert interrupted his son, staving him off from asking too many questions.

"Riku, continue please."

Kairi set her eyes on Riku with extreme unease, wondering if he should keep going, but being Riku, he waved her off and kept going like nothing ever happened.

"Well I went to investigate the source," Riku recounted, his voice suddenly dropping to an icy tone. "I was ambushed…..I'm not sure whether to say "it" or she" Riku wondered aloud. Chills ran down his spine as he remembered Leah's simple declaration of loathing being called "It".

"She?" Kairi wondered, her curiosity definitely piqued along with everyone else in the room.

An imperceptible glance at her fiancé said many things as they read each others minds. The only beings they had referred to as he and she had been the members of Organization XIII.

"Are you saying that this thing you encountered had a human form?" Sora questioned.

"Yes……her body resembles a human, but she is black as night and has the eyes of a heartless."

"So it's definitely not a Nobody then?" Kairi queried.

"No…" Riku answered back quietly.

Robert and Ryker looked on as the trio conversed. The conversation was now going way over their head for the moment.

"…if it's not a Nobody Riku, do you have any guess as to what it might be?" Sora paced back and forth, thinking hard.

"The only thing I can think of is maybe a heartless that didn't completely lose their heart to darkness. That would explain why she didn't totally devolve down into a simple heartless, but this also means that her heart would have to have been really strong for this to happen."

The trio were silent as they contemplated what exactly to do with the new information they had been given.

"So what" Robert cut in, "is the village in danger because of it?"

Sora, Kairi, and Riku's attention was immediately turned to Robert.

Riku was silent and wasn't able to keep eye contact with Robert as he spoke.

"Yes, we have two days before she comes here with her army of heartless to lay waste to everything here…"

The audible gasps of four people could be heard, but only two looks of dismay on the faces of Ryker and Robert were visible. The Keybearers had gotten halfway gotten used to this kind of dismal information and weren't as affected by it.

An uneasy silence filled the room as the severity of the terrible news fell into everyone's minds. Robert's expression turned immediately grim as a flood of tainted memories began to dig and gnaw at his stressed mind. His eyes lingered on the rays of bright morning sun illuminating the village…his village.

"Does the village need to evacuate" Robert's voice cracked, his emotions threatening to spill over.

Sora spoke this time, giving Riku a break.

"It wouldn't matter," he said softly, "the heartless would find everyone eventually even with a two days head start. It would just be a matter of time…"

"Then we stand and fight!" A brave voice rang through the din of quietness, shattering it completely.

Ryker spoke confidently, brandishing his weapons as he did so. "If fighting and dying are our only options, then it is obvious what we should do."

"Ryker…" Kairi faltered. "If Riku was no match for….Leah, then we are outmatched as well.

"No! I refuse to believe that! Can all three of you not work together to defeat her?"

"My son has a point there you three."

"Sora spoke up, answering both Robert and Ryker, "we have considered that option already…"

A quick glance at the ruffled bed Riku laid in, and to his close standing fiancé yielded the same nod.

"Close your eyes!" The trio commanded synchronously.

Sora held out his palm and riveted his eyes on it in great concentration. An orb suddenly appeared in his hand as an invisible energy began to swirl around him. Picture frames, Riku's bed sheets, and assorted loose items began to levitate. Robert and Ryker couldn't help but stare despite the command given to them as all the items began to slowly orbit around Sora.

"Drive!"

With that single word delivered with a deafening force a blinding light made Robert and his son slam their eyes shut from the brilliant white light being emanated from Sora.

Unbeknownst to the two, Riku and Kairi were becoming more and more transparent. Sora's friends were gradually disappearing into thin air. With their presence completely gone, the light was suddenly sucked seemingly back into Sora's body.

With the light finally gone the two blinded ones blinked their eyes twice in quick succession, seemingly trying to purge the light plaguing them.

Ryker looked intently at something very blurry floating in front of him. He rubbed his arm across his eyes forcefully, trying to speed up the process of seeing again.

He pulled his arm away and stared, his eyes becoming big as saucers. His father was in the same predicament not too long after him. The awestruck pair stared in wonder at the seemingly impossible sight of Sora floating in front of them. The Kingdom Key was lightly gripped in his right hand, while the Oathkeeper was in his left. Two other Keyblades were located behind him lazily floating and rotating on their own individual axis's.

Ryker and his father couldn't fathom what they were seeing right now. If it wasn't the fact that Sora had four weapons, or that his clothes had drastically changed from the predominant black and gold to a dominant black with symmetrical white and pink curved stripes, it was the undeniable truth that Kairi and Riku were nowhere to be found.

"Sora! Where are Kairi and Riku?!" Ryker queried with panic beginning to show in his voice.

Robert's eyes scoured the room. He had a great desire to look under the bed Riku had been in just moments ago, but he went with his better judgment and decided he would look like a fool on his hands and knees gazing for missing people under a bed.

Sora spoke suddenly, distracting Robert from his dilemma, albeit it could hardly be described as _**just**_his voice.

"We are all essentially one and the same while we're in this form. All of our strengths are combined, which makes us much more powerful…" The three's voices blended, but it was anything but melodious. It was very much distorted and sounded like all of them and neither of them at the same time.

"I knew it!" Ryker said ecstatically. "You will be able to kill her in that form," he added, a smug look beginning to form on his face.

A dark cloud suddenly killed the luminous sunlight breaking through the cracked glass. It made the soft glow of the trios' melded form much more pronounced.

The epiphany came to Robert like a blow to his gut. He stared at the ground and began speaking softly and slowly.

"But while you are dealing with….her…the village….and the people… are doomed…"

It was really a matter of simple logic. Even if the entire population of the village was gathered in one place and the Keybearers were combined, they would not be able to fight both Leah and the storm of heartless descending on everyone. The lucent trio nodded their heads all together.

For all his gruffness, Robert had a despondent look engraved in his countenance.

"Now you understand why we cannot be in this form when the heartless come…"

With a flash of light Sora, Riku, and Kairi separated into their separate selves. An air of silence still hung on Robert's statement. Even, Ryker, who was up beat only moments ago, was now downcast at the ugly truth that sunk its fangs deep into his psyche. It really was hopeless.

Robert slowly let his eyes wander back and forth around the room. He examined the scratches and dull crimson bloodstains on the walls and floor. These creatures, he hated them so much, and yet, he knew they were once like him. Normal human beings that lived out their daily lives before it all came crashing down around them when their bodies were corrupted by darkness.

There had to be a solution that would result in the survival of his community. Closing his eyes for a moment he sighed, bringing everyone's thoughtful looks upon him. Robert knew once he spoke he couldn't take it back, but he was oddly content with on the fly decision.

"Sacrifice" was the solitary word he uttered first. The man's face twitched, as if the word itself was raking sharp claws across his face.

"The other men and I will be decoys and lead the heartless away so the other villagers can escape and you three can deal with Leah."

A look of pure shock manifested on everyone's faces, especially Rykers. What Robert was proposing was not just selfless…it was suicide. The chances of death for all involved would surely be one-hundred percent without a doubt. Ryker was the first to voice vehement opposition.

"Dad! You can't! Please don't talk like that!"

"Ryker…son…I don't expect you to understand this decision. This isn't just about our family. This is about the entire village."

Sora, Kairi, and Riku looked on, silently amazed at Roberts love for his family and friends. It reminded them of the close knit community of the Destiny Islands. The devotion they were witnessing was truly amazing, but the sick feeling in the pits of their stomachs was hard to ignore as Ryker choked out a pained reply, tears streaming down his face.

"..b…bu…but..why!?"

Robert smiled at his son warmly. He bent down and grasped his shoulders, being incredibly brave for his sake.

"Because it is within my power and will to do so Ryker…..and because I love you…Sofi…and your mom more than anything in the world. You will understand this somed…"

"NO!" Ryker roared back.

"I'll never understand!" Ryker ripped himself away from his father and stepped back. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I'll never forgive you for this…" he hissed.

The boy sprinted past his father out of the room. His stomping footsteps could be heard the entire way followed by the thundering boom of his entire body rolling out of the impact from the long jump downstairs. Sarah and Sofi both yelled at him, but it was all for naught as the front door slammed shut. He was gone.

Robert dropped to his knees in agony. He could no longer hold his emotions in. His tears stained the wooden floor beneath him. The Keybearers stood, shocked and mortified, at the heart wrenching scene that had just played out in front of them.

"I'm gonna go find Ryker…" Sora whispered to Kairi.

The auburn haired boy walked out silently and towards the front door. He passed Sarah and Sofi on his way up, but he kept his head down and didn't say a word to either of them.

The last thing he heard was the sound of both Sarah and Robert sobbing together. A quick glance behind him made him see Sofi on Riku's back coming towards the stairs with Kairi close behind him.

_Good…..Sofi doesn't need to hear all of that….._

His eyes caught Riku's; they looked at each other for only but a moment as the silver haired boy waved his hand and motioned Sora to go find Ryker quickly.

Sora nodded his head and quickly made his way down the aged wooden steps and outside. He took a deep breath and jumped as high as he possibly could before gliding as fast as possible towards the training ground he had made the other day. The air rushing past his face was the only thing that wiped the tears away and sent them falling like rain to the ground.

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Wow......That was really hard for me to write. I think one of my weaknesses is dealing with several characters at once, but I think I did it justice. This is definitely one of the more depressing ones I've written. Hope everyone enjoyed it!! R&R!


	9. The Storm Before The Typhoon

Retribution Chapter 9

A/N: Here's the ninth! After a long absence I've finally gotten the time to work on this chapter. Forgive me if my writing has gotten a bit rusty in this time. I've gone over this chapter so many times my eyes feel like they're about to bleed so I hope I've kept mistakes to a minimum. So without another six month delay, here's the next installment of Retribution.

The villagers pointed their fingers towards the sky blue ceiling situated above them, wondering what in the world could be flying so fast above the village. Some even were startled enough to herd their families into the concealed shelters that kept many of the villagers alive through the heartless raids. Sora would've stopped to explain himself and stop the needless actions of the villagers, but Ryker was a more pressing matter at the moment.

_His anger… I understand why he would be…but…_

Sora couldn't take a side. He understood both of them, but that didn't make coming up with something to reconcile Ryker's raging emotions any easier. The fact that he was a teenager also didn't help the situation in the least.

_Damn it…why is this happening. This was supposed to be a routine mission. Sure, it was urgent, but this is ridiculous…_

Several glints from Ryker's steel weapons reflecting in the midmorning sunlight distracted Sora's troubled thoughts. He gracefully floated down a little way in front of Ryker, his back turned to him. His wind swept hair was slowly returning to its natural position as he began to pivot around, intending to cut him off. Ryker would have none of it. Sora's senses roared to life as the sound of air being cut was heard behind him. Instinctively ducking, the blade made a full rotation through his hair before it flew by and lodged in a tree at the edge of the training grounds.

Sora's eyes whipped around as he stared in utter disbelief at Ryker who was in a fighting stance with one arm extended menacingly in front of him like he had just thrown a ball.

"What the hell Ryker!" Sora shouted obviously angry, "all I want to do is…"

Sora was cut short as Ryker advanced towards him with the blade he still held with his right hand raised menacingly above him. Tears were streaked across Ryker's face, belying the fierceness of his attack, but nonetheless, those same eyes were screaming murder. Sora had no other choice but to intervene.

He focused energy in his feet, summoning his Keyblade to his palm as he did. Time became distorted for Sora as he made his move. Ryker's blade had no sooner begun its arc down to cleave Sora's head in two pieces before it flew out of his hand with a clang.

Sora stood behind Ryker with his Keyblade in hand. Silence engulfed the area as neither of the two would speak first. The unarmed boy cursed under his breath, which was lost to an unexpected gust of wind. Blades of charred grass rasped together as he turned his body ever so slightly, just enough for him to give Sora a sidelong glance. Icy words, barely audible, began to flow from his mouth.

"Leave me alone Sora."

In a low, flat voice, Sora spoke as if speaking to a hostile stranger he'd never met before.

"We're going to talk this out," He said before taking a softer tone with the younger adult. "I know you're hurting Ryker. I understand your pain."

The young adult averted his eyes and scoffed, "shut up…don't even pretend you have any idea what its like to _know_ you'll lose your father!"

As Ryker's echoes died off Sora spoke, slowly and deliberately.

"I already have…"

Ryker's eyes widened. His head turned with the slow methodical precision of a robot towards Sora as he leered at Sora in obvious disbelief.

"How…I mean," Ryker struggled with his words.

"Rafting accident," Sora replied simply. "I've been told I have more in common with him than my looks," he chuckled before his voice dropped to a more serious tone. "Everyone on the island knew that not anyone should have gone out into the ocean that day, but being my dad, he just couldn't resist."

"I was too young to remember him all that well, but I'll never forget the last thing he told me before he left my mom and me at the house."

_Never live your life in fear son. Never hesitate to do the things you love to do, and most importantly always protect your family and friends with your life if need be. _

Sora let his words sink in before he continued with his painful memory.

"That was the _last _thing I _ever _heard from my dad and I took his words to heart…"

Ryker stood like a statue, processing the information he'd been given before speaking in a choked voice, his emotions threatening to take over.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want you to understand I know how it feels to lose a father. It hurts, I know personally, but you need to accept what your dad is doing. Even if it means he has chosen to sacrifice himself for you and Sofi and your mom."

"I can't…" Ryker cried out. "I won't!"

"You have no choice in the matter Ryker. You must accept this for what it is. I'm sorry, I truly am, but I can't tell you the one thing you want to hear…"

Ryker retreated into his own thoughts. His tears fell to the ground, unbeknownst to himself. One thought enveloped his being.

_What is it about this that scares me most? Fear of losing someone…or a fear of what happens after they are lost?_

Ryker shuddered within himself. What was it about the idea of eternity that scared the hell out of him? Death was either permanent or arbitrary; deciding which to believe was difficult.

_What about heartless? What happen to people who are turned in to them? Do they get to live in paradise while the empty shell of their body continues to be a monster that only consumes more hearts?_

Ryker opened his eyes, revealing the crimson, tear strewn irises.

"No," Ryker quietly spoke, "this is it…"

"What?" Sora inquired, looking perplexed at the strange statement Ryker had spoken.

"Nothing" Ryker said as he wiped his eyes dry. "Let's go back home."

Sora complied silently and followed a little ways behind Ryker as he retrieved his blades that were stuck in the ground and tree.

_That tone of voice. Sora thought. How did he change his mind so quickly?_

As they both began the trek back to the village a feeling of extreme unease overtook Sora. Something about Ryker was not right.

"Hey Sora…"

"Yeah, what's up Ryker?"

"I need you to make me something for my blades…" Ryker said plainly.

"Like what?"

"Something that makes sure I never lose weapons like that again. I want to be able to throw them and bring them back to me. Can you do that?"

Sora had no good reason to object to the idea, so he decided to comply.

"Sure Ryker, I think I can."

"Good…"

Riku sat in an aged wooden chair perched next to Sofi's bed, silently watching over the now slumbering little girl. He glanced over at the door as it creaked slowly open. His silver hair waved quickly in the opposite direction as he immediately looked away. Almost as if he was ashamed to make eye contact with any sentient being. His hand clasped together ever tighter as Sarah began to speak softly to him, being careful to not wake her daughters sleeping form.

The mother wrestled with her emotions as she whispered.

"Riku…is there really no other way?"

"No Ms. Artaith…I don't think there is," Riku murmured, his entire body tense.

"What is it called when Sora combines with you and Kairi?" Sarah asked a bit too loud. Sofi stirred for a moment, but was immediately asleep within seconds of rolling around and making herself more comfortable.

Riku was taken aback by the sudden change of subject. His raised eyebrows said a lot about his curiosity.

"It's called a 'drive'," Riku answered quietly, looking at Sofi as he spoke. "What do you want know about it?"

Riku sensed Sarah had a more pressing question on her mind.

"Is it possible to only combine with one person?"

"Yes, but the form isn't near as powerful."

Riku could now see what she was getting at. If there was one person not committed to the drive, they could deal with the lesser heartless and protect the villagers from sure destruction. The only problem was he wasn't sure a two person drive would be enough to stop Leah.

"Would a two person," Sarah fumbled with her words, "drive….be possible to deal with that thing?"

"I can honestly say, personally, it would be almost impossible to do. She is too strong."

Sarah had had enough. Her personal feelings plus Riku's insistence on calling something she had deemed a monster "human" was too much for her frayed nerves to take.

"Why do you insist on calling that _thing _she?! That _thing_ is a monster and should be treated as such!"

Sofi sprang to life, startled from her own mothers shouting. She pleaded with her, "mommy! What's wrong mommy?!"

Riku said nothing; his practiced neutral stare only achieved the opposite effect of what he had hoped for. Sarah wanted something, anyone else's emotions but her own to latch onto. Riku gave her none.

"Everything was fine until you three showed up! And now my husband is going to die because YOU brought that thing here! You should just go back to wherever you came from and take your damn friends with you!"

Sarah was in a tirade, not noticing how her hurt was slowly transferring to Sofi. Though the little girl did not understand half the things she was saying, her mothers contorted visage and hurtful words towards Mr. Riku were beginning to make her cry.

"Shut up…" Riku said suddenly, cutting off Sarah midsentence.

His directness and the force of his words, quiet as they were, were enough to immediately stifle Sarah's screaming. She almost started again before she saw her daughter on the bed, sitting with her legs under her, staring strait into her eyes. Sofi's lips quivered with pent up emotion as stray tears ran down her face. She wasn't bawling, but was very close to it. Sarah's hand flew over her mouth as heat radiated to her cheeks.

Ashamed, Sarah walked by the chair Riku was still sitting in and gave her daughter a hug and whispered her apology. As she backed out, his face remained unchanged, still utterly unemotional. As the last inch of the door finally closed shut Sarah began to wonder if he was human at all.

"Mr. Riku…" Sofi spoke softly.

The object of her words turned slowly, almost lazily towards her.

"Yes?" Riku replied cheerfully.

"Why was my mommy yelling?"

"She burnt the pancakes Sofi," Riku said with a practiced tone of voice. "She was angry about it and was just telling me why."

Sofi was silent for a moment before asking another question.

"She said that daddy was going to die…"

Riku smiled at the little girl, "That's only because if your daddy doesn't eat this morning he might die of starvation," he said with a wink.

Sofi's doubts immediately forgotten she jumped up and crawled onto Riku's back.

"Let's go fix pancakes!" She squealed excitedly.

"Okay Sofi, let's do that."

As Riku walked out the door, the tears that ran down his face were the only thing that betrayed the lie he had just told a trusting little girl.

The sweat on Sora's face glistened as he was once again working with hot metal. Making something that would make Ryker's blades be able to come back to him if they were thrown. His mind worked in overdrive as he tried to conceive of something that would have the desired function.

_Bracelets with long piece of coiled wire inside? Sora thought to himself._

Sora tried his idea at once, carving circular donuts out of the mass of congealed molten metal. He hollowed out the bracelet just enough to hold a coiled piece of wire inside before blasting it with cool air to hold the shape.

_Now for the wire…_

This was the most difficult thing to fathom. The wire had to be thin enough to allow free and fluid movement of the blades, but also had to be strong enough to avoid being broken somehow. His mind wandered to Ryker's hilts and the magnetic property he had imbued the wood with.

_Maybe….just maybe…._

Sora began drawing out a thin wire out of the shapeless lump of metal, continuing to do so until he had a piece ten feet long. He cut it off at the end, throwing droplets of sweat into the air as his arm swung down with the keyblade. As they began to sizzle and evaporate he blasted the long wire with more cold air from his palm. He took the end he had just cut and held the bracelet in the other hand. Without looking, Sora held out his hand to Ryker who was standing close. Complying silently, he handed one of his blades to the would-be blacksmith. Sora quickly threaded the wire the open ring design on the pommel and tied it with a simple knot before casting the strongest magnet spell he could muster to literally make it where the wire was pulled so tightly against the metal pommel there would be no chance of separation. With that task complete he began work on the bracelet making the inside of it permanently magnetized.

Ryker looked puzzled at first, but finally understood when he saw Sora cast another magnet spell on the opposite end of the wire. It would allow the wire to exit the bracelet completely for a few inches if it was really hurled, but it would stop and suck it back in, bringing the weapon or weapons back into his hands. It was really quite an ingenious idea in Ryker's eyes.

Too focused in his work to say anything, Sora handed the completed weapon to Ryker. His hand remained outstretched asking for the other one. Ryker once again acquiesced to his wishes and handed over the remaining blade.

While Sora continued his work, Ryker tested out the one he had gotten back. He dug his feet into the charred earth and threw the blade somewhat softly out in front of him. His eyes widened as he watched the blade fly unerringly strait. With a resistance on the back of the blade there was no need to provide spin for a stable flight. If his aim was true, the razor sharp tip would be the first thing to reach his enemy. No longer was there a chance that the blunt or hilt of the blade would contact first. Every throw that was going towards something vital was an automatic fatal wound if it was not dodged.

"Perfect" Ryker said to himself. He thought he had spoken soft enough, but Sora had heard. Though he said nothing, he worried about what he planned to do with his new found power.

_And that's exactly what it is…I haven't just given him a new weapon…I've given him more power to use them in a more effective and deadly way…what in the hell is he planning?! Sora wondered._

Keeping everything to himself, Sora handed the twin to his weapon to Ryker. He wordlessly slipped it on and began practicing throwing.

"Tell my mom I'll be home later...big day at the end of tomorrow."

"Yeah….you need your rest Ryker," Sora said concernedly.

"Didn't you hear me? I said at the end of tomorrow. That's the minimum deadline if that thing decides to hold true to an exact forty-eight hours. I can sleep in. Now leave me, I have work to do."

"What are you planning?" Sora asked, almost sounding flippant.

"Don't play dumb Sora; you know full well I intend to fight."

"I expected you too," Sora said, changing the look on Ryker's face from defiant to inquisitive.

"You mean you aren't going to try and keep me from fighting?"

Sora began to walk away, quoting his own father loud enough for Ryker to hear as he did.

_Never live your life in fear son. Never hesitate to do the things you love to do, and most importantly always protect your family and friends with your life if need be. _

Ryker nodded, but Sora was already out of sight. He began practicing again as a newfound burst of energy overwhelmed him.

Sora plodded on, still worried, but satisfied that he put his anger and passion in the right direction.

_Now to go find Kairi…I'm sure she is worried…_

A/N: Phew……I hate long absences….but I'm satisfied with this chapter….amazing to me that I'm ten chapters in and haven't even begun the main plotline yet. Expect big things in chapter 10. The roller coaster ride is about to begin. Until then…..later! Hope everyone likes it. R&R


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